A couple of great local history events coming up: On Wednesday 2nd February at 7pm Joanne Lamb, author of Dalrymple Crescent: a snapshot of Victorian Edinburgh, will visit Newington Library to give a presentation followed by a book signing. This book tells the story of the building of the Crescent, and of the people who lived there; and puts it in the context of Edinburgh in the latter half of the 19th century. Find out how just one street can illuminate not just the history of middle-class Victorian Edinburgh, but also the wider history of Scotland at that time. (Contact Newington Library for your free ticket for this event).
At 6pm the following night (Thursday 3rd Feb) Central Library’s Edinburgh Room hosts a presentation, discussion and book signing of Renewing Old Edinburgh: the enduring legacy of Patrick Geddes by Jim Johnson and Lou Rosenburg. (No tickets needed for this one, just turn up on the night)
Renewing Old Edinburgh is a superbly illustrated account of the attempts to improve physical and social conditions in Edinburgh’s old town from 1860 to the present. Based largely on original research, the authors provide an overview on the history of the old town renewal with particular reference to the protracted struggle between two contrasting approaches – large scale redevelopment and the more incremental syle of intervention which the Scots polymath Patrick Geddes described as ‘conservative surgery’.
This is a book that really cries out to be bought, read and understood by anyone who has any influence in the future of Edinburgh and bought simply to be enjoyed by those who love the place
Neil Baxter, RIAS Quarterly
