Four new electronic journal trials

The Wellcome Library currently has trials running to four electronic journals, which can be accessed via the links below to the Library catalogue:

American historical review
The official publication of the American Historical Association.

HOPOS: the journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science
A new journal from the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, concerning the history of philosophical discussions about science.

Philosophy of science
Founded in 1934, the journal of the Philosophy of Science Association.

Jung journal: culture and psyche
Founded in 1979, the journal offers a dialogue between culture and contemporary Jungian views of the dynamic relationship between the cultural and personal aspects of the human psyche.

The trials run until 30 June, and we’d welcome your feedback on each of them. Please email your comments to acquisitions@wellcome.ac.uk.

Author: Aileen Cook

Image: A philosopher reading. Oil painting (Wellcome Library no. 45131i).

New event: Was Jung a mystic?

We will be hosting another Medicine and Literature event on Wednesday 2 February, 19.00-20.15. Join us to hear author Gary Lachman investigate the life of psychologist Carl Jung.

Gary's talk will chart the development of Jung's ideas, look into the reasons behind his early reticence and later advocacy of the paranormal, and finally ask, was Jung a scientist or a mystic, or perhaps something else?

The event is free and tickets can be booked on the Wellcome Collection website.

Image: The dream of a patient in Jungian analysis: a railway tunnel, a train in the distance, and three people walking along next to the right-hand track. Drawing by M.A.C.T., 1971. (Library no. 658097i)

The Red Book

It's not often books purchased by the Wellcome Library have guested on a prime time American crime show, but then again, Carl Jung's The Red Book is no ordinary work.

A facsimile of Carl Jung's Liber Novus (New Book), The Red Book was only published for the first time last year. It records in words and images the innermost feelings and thoughts of Jung, who started the work after undergoing an intense spiritual and mental crisis in the 1910s. According to the book's editor Prof Sonu Shamdasani, the publication of the work is an enormously important event in the history of psychology: the whole of Jung's career can now be reinterpreted through this intense work.

Both literally and metaphorically a weighty tome, the shelves of the Wellcome Library hold a number of copies of The Red Book and all are available to our readers. For an introduction to the work, BBC Radio 3 devoted the interval to last Saturday's Prom concert to a discussion of the work between presenter Bidisha, Prof Shamdasani and artist Bettina Reiber (and to sample the book's visual style, take a look at this BBC Slideshow).

The discussion will be available to listeners in the UK through the Radio 3 website until next Saturday: the Red Book feature begins 10 minutes into the programme.