Rare Books - Important Acquisitions List All
Rare Book Collections works to build up the national collections through
purchases (through dealers or at auction) and donations. This directory gives details of 697 of the most important items we have acquired since 2000. We update it regularly as new material comes in. The description gives information about why it was chosen and what makes it particularly interesting. You can order the list by date of acquisition, author or title.
Please let us know what you think of this resource, if you have information to add about an acquisition, or if you have rare Scottish books that you would like to donate or sell. Email us at rarebooks@nls.uk
Important Acquisitions 241 to 255 of 697:
|
Ordered by author
Order by title
| Order by date
acquired
|
| Author | Andrew Sharp & Sons |
| Title | Catalogue of Iron & Brass Bedsteads, Child's Cots, Bed Chairs, &c. |
| Imprint | Glasgow: John F. Gourlie, Lith. |
| Date of Publication | c. 1900 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a sumptuous trade catalogue with 53 lithographed plates, most of them partly printed in colour. Brass and wrought iron are much in evidence; no flat-pack self-assembly kits here. Judging by the size and solidity of the beds illustrated here, some are probably still around today. The Campbellfield Bedstead Works were built for Andrew Sharp in 1876, and were in Campbellfield Street in central Glasgow. This copy comes with three price lists dated 1901, one with manuscript corrections. |
| Shelfmark | AB.10.207.07 |
| Acquired on | 28/03/07
|
| Author | Annan, John. |
| Title | Photographs of excavations at the Roman fort of Castlecary. |
| Imprint | Glasgow |
| Date of Publication | 1902 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a well-preserved album of 16 photographs of excavations along part of the Antonine Wall at Castlecary in Stirlingshire. John Annan (1862-1947) was the older son of Thomas Annan (1829-1887) and a member of the family firm of photographers. John specialized in architectural photography and was known for his photographs of Glasgow slums. These photographs were taken during the excavation of Castlecary fort between March and November 1902. It appears that Annan took these photographs for the article published in volume 37 of the Proceedings of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries (1902-1903).
This album was owned by the Glasgow Archaeological Society, who conducted excavations along the Antonine Wall from 1890. The fort at Castlecary was one of only two defences (from a total of 15), along the 37 mile-long wall, enclosed by stone walls as distinct from ramparts of stone or clay. The archaeological evidence suggests it was built while Agricola was governor between 77 and 84 A.D., prior to the construction of the wall during the middle of the second century. The earliest notice of the fort is probably in an anonymous letter of 1697 describing an excursion to the west of Edinburgh. Castlecary fort was plundered for stone during the construction of the Forth-Clyde Canal in 1770 and was dissected by the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway around 1840. The outer boundary has been further damaged by the main Glasgow to Stirling road (A80). |
| Shelfmark | Phot.la.24 |
| Reference Sources | Robertson, Anne. The Antonine Wall. (Glasgow: Glasgow Archaeological Society, 1990) HP2.90.7857
Hanson, William S. and Maxwell, Gordon S. Rome's north west frontier: the Antonine Wall. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Press, 1983) H3.83.2259
Christison, D., Buchanan, M. and Anderson, J. 'Excavation of Castlecary fort on the Antonine vallum' in Proceedings of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries 37 (1902-1903), p. 271-346. SCS.SASP.37 |
| Acquired on | 04/04/02
|
| Author | Annan, Thomas. |
| Title | Photographic views of Loch Katrine and of some of the principal works constructed for introducing the water of Loch Katrine into the city of Glasgow. |
| Imprint | Glasgow: [Glasgow Corporation Water Works], |
| Date of Publication | 1889 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Loch Katrine, a freshwater loch in the Trossach hills north of Glasgow, was identified in 1853 by John Frederick Bateman, a civil engineer employed by the Glasgow Corporation, as a potential source of clean drinking water for the city. Glasgow had in the previous fifty years suffered major cholera and typhus epidemics due to overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of reliable water supply for the majority of its inhabitants. Despite strong opposition, a bill was passed in the House of Lords in 1855 authorising work to go ahead on the construction of a waterworks on the loch. Four years later the works was opened by Queen Victoria; they made a substantial difference to the health of the city. They cost around £1.5 million, a huge sum for those days, but were a major source of civic pride for Glasgow. The Glasgow Corporation Water Works engaged the Glasgow-based photographer, Thomas Annan (1829-1887) to provide a photographic record of the waterworks and the various aqueduct bridges and reservoirs built to facilitate the supply of water to Glasgow, 34 miles away. "Photographic views of Loch Katrine", which consisted of 28 albumen prints by Annan, with accompanying text and in a special binding, was first published in 1877. The book was presumably a limited edition as each copy appears to have been presented by the Lord Provost and members of the Water Committee to local worthies. This is a second issue of the book, dated 1889, with a new title page and five additional prints, which are all group photographs of the Glasgow Corporation Water Commissioners on visits to the Gorbals Water Works and Loch Katrine between 1880 and 1886. As with the 1877 issue it appears to have been produced for presentation by the Lord Provost to prominent individuals. This particular copy was presented to one 'Robert Anderson', probably the local businessman and one-time bailie of Glasgow, Robert Anderson (b. 1846). |
| Shelfmark | Phot.med.117 |
| Reference Sources | A. Aird, Glimpses of Old Glasgow, Glasgow, 1894 (http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/airgli/index.html) |
| Acquired on | 30/04/10
|
| Author | Anon |
| Title | The speeches of the six condemn'd Lords at their tryals in Westminster-Hall. |
| Imprint | [London: s.n.] |
| Date of Publication | 1716 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | After the failure of the Jacobite rising in 1715/16, the British government was quick to dispense justice to those who took a prominent role in the rising, most notably to members of the aristocracy who might pose a future risk to the recently established Hanoverian monarchy. This rare broadside gives the text of speeches by six Jacobite lords in the House of Lords on 18-19 January 1716 after they had been impeached for treason. Four of these six lords, who all pleaded guilty, were Scots: William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale, Robert Dalzell, 5th Earl of Carnwath, William Gordon, 6th Viscount Kenmure, and William Nairne, 2nd Lord Nairne. The other two were English, Baron Widdrington, and the Earl of Derwentwater, leader of the uprising in the north of England. All six of them were sentenced to death but four of them received reprieves, and only Kenmure and Derwentwater, who both had military commands in the rising, were actually beheaded on Tower Hill on 24 February 1716. The broadside also gives Derwentwater's last speech before his execution, in which he regretted having pleaded guilty and reasserted his loyalty to the Jacobite cause. Kenmure made no formal speech before his death. He is recorded as expressing regret that he had not had time to order a black suit to die in and for having accepted George I's authority by pleading guilty. In a letter apparently written to a fellow peer the night before his execution, he explained that a formal scaffold speech on his allegiances might damage Carnwath's chances of obtaining a pardon and he stressed that he was a protestant, acting purely from loyal duty to James, the exiled son of King James II/VII. The broadside has three crude woodcut illustrations, which bear little relation to the events described in the text below. Only one other, imperfect, copy of this broadside is recorded by ESTC, in the Bodleian library. This particularly copy was part of the collection of the 17th earl of Perth, sold at auction in 2012. |
| Shelfmark | IN PROCESS |
| Reference Sources | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| Acquired on | 31/08/12
|
| Author | Anon |
| Title | The bird-fancier's companion; or, a true and easy way of hatching and bringing forth canary birds. 2nd ed. |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: A. Donaldson & J. Reid for William Coke, |
| Date of Publication | 1763 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Only two other copies of this book on canaries are recorded in ESTC and no first edition is recorded anywhere. The text is taken from a work first printed in London "A new way of breeding canary birds" (1742), which was also reissued as the second part of "The bird fancier's necessary companion and sure guide" (London, 1760-62). The work opens with chapters on the different breeds of canary and about how to make the best choice from the birds imported into "England" by German traders. The import of caged birds into Scotland is likely to have been though Leith, at that time the main entry point in Scotland for foreign goods, which would explain why the book was printed for a Leith-based bookseller, William Coke. The book goes on to cover breeding of canaries, health tips and how to make them sing. It closes with a section on native wild birds which were often kept as caged birds: skylarks, goldfinches and linnets. The book is illustrated with a frontispiece and a plate showing how to set up a bird trap, as well as three plates depicting the three aforementioned native song birds. The plates were engraved by Edinburgh-based Thomas Phinn (1728-c.1770). |
| Shelfmark | IN PROCESS |
| Reference Sources | Bookseller's notes |
| Acquired on | 31/08/12
|
| Author | Anon. |
| Title | Observations on illicit distillation and smuggling: with some remarks on the reports of Woodbine Parish Esq. chairman of the excise board, on that subject. |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: David Willison |
| Date of Publication | 1816 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a rare pamphlet, with only two other copies located in major libaries in the UK and USA. The anonymous author is almost certainly a Scot, who takes issue here with Woodbine Parish (1768-1848), a London merchant who served as chairman of the board of excise for Scotland, 181523. The author criticises Parish's report on distillation and smuggling, in particular the remarks on the Scots' propensity for drunkenness and the belief that the increase in illegal distilling had nothing to with the increase in alcohol duty. The author in this pamphlet provides a good snapshot of Scottish drinking practices and smuggling activities of the period. For the author, the poorly-framed laws made in Westminster, which ignore the social and economic realities of life of Scotland, are the main reasons for the increase in illegal distillation and smuggling. |
| Shelfmark | IN PROCESS |
| Reference Sources | Bookseller's notes |
| Acquired on | 22/06/12
|
| Author | Anonymous |
| Title | Thomas Edwards, England's, and North-Britain's, Happiness |
| Imprint | London |
| Date of Publication | 1709 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This rare pamphlet makes a unique contribution to the debates over the Union of 1707. The writer argues that the great happiness brought by the union can be easily demonstrated by comparing conditions in modern England to, for instance, the reign of Henry III (!). The writer claims that the settlement has clarified the workings of the constitution, particularly as regards the militia, and supports Thomas Orme's Former Prints for a Standing Army (1707). The text goes on to claim that the Church of England is now freer from popery than at any time since the reign of Henry VIII, and warns solemnly against tolerating the Dissenters. In order to make this point further, the editor goes on to reprint the epistle from Thomas Edwards' Gangraena (1646) in which toleration is denounced. The 'imprimatur' from James Cranford on p. 32, which precedes the extract from Edwards' work, is simply an imprimatur from an edition of Edwards. At p. 33 the writer continues to discourse on religion and the state of the church, quoting from other sources to suggest that the Kirk of Scotland should conform to the Church of England. The writer clearly feels that Scotland has failed to make a proper contribution to the Union, remarking on the last page that only divine intervention prevented the Pretender from successfully taking Scotland in 1708, when 'North-Britain was so out of capacity to resist an invading Foe'. As a political argument, this work is amusingly illogical and disordered, but its references to other pamphlets create an interesting picture of literary debates in Britain in the early eighteenth century. This copy is striking for its condition, being uncut, unopened and stitched as issued. ESTC records just eight other copies (ESTC T32653). Collation: 4o, A-D4, a-b4, E-G4 |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2074 |
| Acquired on | 17/01/01
|
| Author | Archimedes |
| Title | [Works] |
| Imprint | [Foulis Press?] |
| Date of Publication | [1743-1749?] |
| Language | Greek |
| Notes | The exploits of the Foulis Press are always intriguing, and this latest discovery is no exception. Here is a single, uncut sheet consisting of two identical folio leaves. The text is the half-title and first page of a work by Archimedes, the ancient Greek scientist and mathematician, 'On the sphere and the cylinder'. Clearly the sheet was to be cut in half and then each leaf placed in a volume of Archimedes. But why was this extra leaf printed, and what has this got to do with Glasgow's Foulis Press?
At shelfmark K.33.b, the Library has a copy of the first edition of Archimedes, printed at Basle in 1544. This edition was based on a defective manuscript, so the text at the start of 'On the sphere' was not included. At some point in the eighteenth century, an attempt was made to supply this lacuna, possibly by the mathematician and book-collector William Jones (1675-1749). This extra leaf was specially printed, probably by Glasgow's Foulis Press, using the Greek 'Great Primer' font cut for them by Alexander Wilson around 1743. It is not known how many copies were corrected in this way - the copy now at K.33.b. is among those corrected. It was received by the Advocates' Library some time between 1742 and 1776. Perhaps the correction was made for the 200th anniversary of the first printing of Archimedes? |
| Shelfmark | RB.l.143 |
| Reference Sources | Gaskell, Foulis Press
Archimedes, Opera, ed. Heiberg
DNB |
| Acquired on | 16/07/04
|
| Author | Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa |
| Title | Proposals for printing by subscription ... Travels in the interior parts of Africa |
| Imprint | [London: G. Nicol] |
| Date of Publication | 1798 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is an unrecorded single sheet, dated June 4th 1798, outlining the conditions for subscribing to the forthcoming publication of Mungo Park's "Travels in the interior districts of Africa". The young Scot (1771-1806) had been appointed by the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (African Association) to lead an expedition to 'ascertain the course, and if possible, the rise and termination' of the river Niger. Park set out for Africa in 1795 and returned home two and a half years later, having survived a series of arduous adventures in which he was able to ascertain that the river flowed inland to the east. An abridged account of his expedition was privately printed for African Association members in 1798 while Park returned to his home town of Selkirk and wrote up his notes for his planned book, which was to be published by subscription. This sheet reveals the completed book would "form one handsome volume in quarto" and would be ready "early in the ensuing season". Subscribers would pay an initial guinea for which they were likely to get the book in boards along with the engravings, but may have to pay an extra half guinea for any additional expenses in printing and engraving. They would also have their names printed. Subscriptions were to be received by the London bookseller George Nicol, who was already exhibiting a map of Park's route in his shop (the map engraved by James Rennell showed the Niger flowing eastward, but, incorrectly, also showed it petering out into an inland swamp). Park's "Travels" was published the following year and would prove to be a bestseller, going through three editions in its first year of publication. |
| Shelfmark | AP.5.212.01 |
| Reference Sources | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| Acquired on | 18/11/11
|
| Author | Audubon, John James |
| Title | Ornithological biography: or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, |
| Date of Publication | 1831-1849[i.e.1839] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a complete 5-volume set of Audubon's "Ornithological biography" in their original salmon-pink cloth bindings (the existing set in NLS is incomplete, lacking vol. 5). The work was written by Audubon in collaboration with the Scottish naturalist William MacGillivray; it was intended as a text companion to the elephant folio volumes comprising the plates of "Birds of America". Audubon's last three visits to Scotland in the 1830s were primarily devoted to working with MacGillivray in Edinburgh on the book. The text was published separately from the plates to circumvent the Copyright Act, which would have required that Audubon deposit sets of "Birds of America" with the UK legal deposit libraries. |
| Shelfmark | IN PROCESS |
| Acquired on | 19/10/12
|
| Author | Baillie, Joanna |
| Title | Collection of Poems |
| Date of Publication | 1823 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Bought with [Walter Scott, Letter on Landscape, 1831], $600.00. This item transferred to MSS.
Two very unusual Scott items, both from the collections of the Scott bibliographers William B. Todd and Ann Bowden: in the bibliography, these are items 166A and 256A.1 respectively. Baillie encouraged many poets to submit original unpublished works for inclusion in her volume, among whom were Scott, Wordsworth, Southey and Campbell. This copy has been purchased because it was apparently given as a present by Scott (see the publisher's note on title-page), and it is finely bound with Scott's personal portcullis device in gilt on the spine. No other examples of such a binding are known outside Scott's own library at Abbotsford.
The second item is a curious facsimile of a Scott letter. At some point this copy has been included in a collection of forgeries, but it seems unlikely that anyone would be fooled for long: although the postmark is dated 1830, the paper is watermarked 1831! The National Library holds what is probably the original of this letter, MS.23141.f.9. A comparision of the two suggests that great labour went into the production of the facsimile, for no very obvious reason. |
| Shelfmark | Bdg.s.879 |
| Reference Sources | William B. Todd & Ann Bowden, Sir Walter Scott – a bibliographical history, 1998. |
| Acquired on | 24/01/02
|
| Author | Bain, Alexander. |
| Title | Petition of Alexander Bain. |
| Imprint | London: Chapman and Hall, |
| Date of Publication | 1846 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Alexander Bain (1810-1877) was a clockmaker and inventor from Caithness who moved to London in 1837. He began to attend lectures, exhibitions, and demonstrations on the principles and practices of electrical science and was one of the first people to consider how clocks could be driven by electricity. As the 'father of electrical horology' he took out five patents in this field between 1841 and 1852, including one in 1846 on picture telegraphy which would enable copies of drawings to be sent electrically from one place to another. In 1845 a bill was proposed by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and John Lewis Ricardo, MP, for founding an Electric Telegraph Company in the UK, the world's first public telegraph company. Bain opposed the formation of the Company on the grounds that some of his patents would be infringed and took his case to Parliament. This book sets out his case for saving his patents, reproducing the evidence he gave to select committees in both Houses of Parliament. In the end an agreement was reached whereby the Electric Telegraph Company paid Bain £7500 for his patents. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2754 |
| Reference Sources | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| Acquired on | 11/06/09
|
| Author | Barbour, John, d.1395 |
| Title | The life and acts of the most victorious conquerour Robert Bruce King of Scotland. |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: Gedeon Lithgow |
| Date of Publication | 1648 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | John Barbour, the fourteenth century poet, churchman and scholar wrote this famous poem probably during the 1370s. In 1377 King Robert II awarded Barbour the princely sum of £10 for writing this stirring and patriotic work. Only two intact copies of the poem on Robert the Bruce are known.Barbour was probably born in Aberdeen and spent most of his life there. He was Archdeacon of Aberdeen from 1357 until his death in 1395. He did spend some time outside of Scotland - studying in Oxford and Paris. In 1372 he was appointed Clerk of Audit in the household of Robert II.The work was first printed by Robert Lekprevik in Edinburgh in 1571. This edition was printed by Gedeon (or Gideon) Lithgow who was appointed printer to Edinburgh University in 1648 in succession to J. Lindesay. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2570 |
| Reference Sources | Aldis 1307, Wing B712 |
| Acquired on | 04/04/05
|
| Author | Barclay, John |
| Title | Johann Barclayens Argenis Deutsch gemacht durch Martin Opitzen. |
| Imprint | Breslau: David Mueller |
| Date of Publication | 1626 |
| Language | German |
| Notes | The Scotsman John Barclay published his political novel "Argenis" in Latin in 1621, one month prior to his death. This long romance, which introduces the leading personages of international importance, has been called the prototype of a courtly roman a clef. Martin Opitz made his, the first German translation, from a French version of "Argenis" between 1626 and 1631.
This two volume edition is bound in contemporary vellum over wooden boards. It has 24 engraved plates with scenic illustrations, as well as a portrait of Barclay in volume 2.
Martin Opitz (1597-1639) was the foremost German Baroque poet. He was considered the authority on the best metrical pattern in all genres. Johann Christoph Gottsched called him the father of German poetry. In Vienna in 1623, Opitz was awarded the position of an imperial poet on account of an extempore poem. He received a knighthood from the Austrian Emperor in 1627.
The first volume is Opitz's translation of Barclay's text, whereas the second volume contains the translation of a second instalment by A.M. de Mouchemberg. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2310 |
| Acquired on | 23/07/03
|
| Author | Barclay, John |
| Title | Euphormionis Lusinini. |
| Imprint | Oxford: Henry Cripps, |
| Date of Publication | 1634 |
| Language | Latin |
| Notes | This is an early English edition of the works of Scottish author John Barclay (1582-1621) which consists of five separate works: both parts of his satirical work "Euphormionis Lusinini Saytricon", the "Apologia" he wrote to defend the work, his "Icon Animorum", and the "Veritatis Lachrymae", an attack on the Jesuit order, which was actually written by the French author Claude-Barthélemy Morisot. The book has been bought for its provenance. As well as marginal readers' marks, it has annotations in a 17th-century hand on the front and back pastedowns and final leaf which show that the book was also used for the conveying of messages between Scotland and England. The back pastedown has a MS list of towns in South West Scotland and North West England (presumably stops on a drove road, the distances between each of the towns in miles appear to be written next to them) and an inscription on the final leaf informs a Robert Watson that a John Andrew will be arriving in Carlisle with a "8 or 9 pack[s]" but will not be arriving until Friday, so Watson is asked to keep any packs destined for Scotland until he arrives. |
| Shelfmark | AB.1.210.005 |
| Acquired on | 19/01/10
|
