Acquisitions calling! Welcome to my second blog entry, which lists some of the more interesting and unusual titles that have been purchased by the Library in the last few weeks. I have recently placed on order a large selection of books from the Oxford University Press, October-December 2011, New Titles catalogue. These have all been selected by the Librarian and Head of Acquisitions, and should start arriving this week (which we will be catalogued by the Bibliographic Services team as swiftly as possible, ready for members to borrow!)

Some of the more bizarre titles that I have noticed recently include:

• “Comparative Eskimo Dictionary” ed. Fortescue, Michael (University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010) – this is in the Reading Room
• “The Economics of Beer” ed. Swinnen, Johan F. M. (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• “Creating Wine” Simpson, James (Princeton University Press, 2011)

Some recently purchased titles that have been heavily reviewed are:

• “Virginia Woolf” Harris, Alexandra (Thames and Hudson, 2011)
• “1Q84” Murakami, Haruki (Harvill Secker, 2011) –in 3 volumes
• “Girl in a green gown: the history and mystery of the Arnolfini portrait” Hicks, Carola (Chatto & Windus, 2011)
• “All Hell let loose: the world at war 1939-1945” Hastings, Max (HarperPress, 2011)
• “Ben Jonson: a life” Donaldson, Ian (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• “Ian Fleming’s Commandos: the story of 30 assault unit in WW2” Rankin, Nicholas (Faber, 2011)

Over the last few weeks I have been keeping an eye on some new books on British history:

• “Imprisoning Medieval women: the non-judicial confinement and abductions of women in England” Seabourne, Gwen (Ashgate, 2011)
• “Flora’s Empire: British gardens in India” Herbert, Eugenia W. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)
• “Out of Empire: what ruling the world did to the British” Paxman, Jeremy (Viking, 2011)
• “A Force to be reckoned with: the history of the Women’s Institute” Robinson, Jane (Virago, 2011)
• “Novel Craft: Victorian domestic handicraft and nineteenth century fiction” Schaffer, Tali (Oxford University Press, 2011)

Also on order is, “Vanished Kingdoms: the history of half-forgotten Europe” Davis, Norman (Allen Lane, 2011), which due to many recent broadsheet reviews, already has 5 members waiting to read it, (it should hopefully arrive within the next few days). This, along with the other titles, make interesting additions to the Library’s ever expanding history collection.

Rhiannon, Acquisitions Assistant