A new series of the Scottish antiquary established 1886.

Graverobbing was a dark but profitable industry in pre-Victorian Scotland – criminals, gravediggers and middle-class medical students alike abstracted newly-buried corpses to send to the anatomy schools. Only after the trials of the infamous murderers Burke and Hare and the passing of the Anatomy Act of 1832 did the grisly trade end. From burial grounds in the heart of Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh to quiet country graveyards in the Scottish Borders and Aberdeenshire, this book takes you to every cemetery ever raided, and reveals where you can find extant pieces of anti-resurrectionist graveyard furniture, from mortsafes, coffin cages and underground vaults to watchtowers and morthouses. Richly illustrated, filled with hundreds of stories of 'reanimated' corpses, daring thefts, black-hearted murders and children sold to the slaughter by their own mothers, and with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic short story The Body Snatcher at the end, this macabre guide will delight everyone who loves Scotland's dark past.

Countering the many claims that the best days of capitalism are over following the economic meltdown of 2008 onwards, this book provocatively argues that a new golden age of capitalism - or upwave - began around 2002, and despite the unstable markets in the western world of the past few years, this upwave will produce previously unseen levels of wealth creation during the next twenty years. Basing this theory on the commercialisation of new technologies and the growth of new markets, the author claims that these positive trends are key to economic recovery in the US, UK and Europe. It argues that the most serious problem facing some countries in the west is government debt and that macroeconomic policy is of limited use in flexible and adaptive economies, where innovation, entrepreneurship and private investment should be encouraged in a range of cities and city regions. This highly original book will interest those concerned with national economies, nation states and urban policy.

This book brings together twelve studies that collectively provide an overview of the main issues of live interest in Scottish witchcraft. As well as fresh studies of the well-established topic of witch-hunting, the book also launches an exploration of some of the more esoteric aspects of magical belief and practice.

Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment represents the first in-depth investigation of Scottish witchcraft and witch belief post-1662, the period of supposed decline of such beliefs, an age which has been referred to as the 'long eighteenth century', coinciding with the Scottish Enlightenment. The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were undoubtedly a period of transition and redefinition of what constituted the supernatural, at the interface between folk belief and the philosophies of the learned. For the latter the eradication of such beliefs equated with progress and civilization but for others, such as the devout, witch belief was a matter of faith, such that fear and dread of witches and their craft lasted well beyond the era of the major witch-hunts. This study seeks to illuminate the distinctiveness of the Scottish experience, to assess the impact of enlightenment thought upon witch belief, and to understand how these beliefs operated across all levels of Scottish society.

This is a valuable book for anyone interested in the cultural meaning of preindustrial migration. Arguing that early modern European migrants could fundamentally influence their fate and their adopted communities, it explores the world of Scots migrants to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, c. 1600-1700. The heart of the study is a reconstruction of the social networks that Scots used to establish and sustain themselves in Rotterdam, drawn from unusually rich narrative sources. Through their social ties, Scots also told stories and kept memories as they created complex identities encompassing Rotterdam, Scotland, and places further afield. By shaping their relationships to Rotterdam, Scots had a broad impact on their adopted home. Their actions helped change Rotterdam’s political, religious, and legal fabric and even tied Rotterdam to the wider Atlantic world.