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.
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Important Acquisitions 676 to 690 of 697: |
Ordered by author Order by title | Order by date acquired |
| Author | various |
| Title | A decorative box containing six miniature publications by David Bryce of Glasgow |
| Imprint | Glasgow: David Bryce and Son |
| Date of Publication | ca. 1890 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | A collection of six miniature publications by David Bryce of Glasgow housed in a metal hinged box which features images of a Chinese dragon and flying cranes. The books measure only 27 mm. tall and are bound in flexible red roan leather with pages of very fine, thin India paper. The titles comprise: 'Old English, Scotch and Irish Songs'; 'Witty, Humorous and Merry Thoughts'; 'Golden Thoughts from Great Authors; 'Poems chiefly in the Scottish dialect by Robert Burns' and 'The Smallest English Dictionary in the World'. The sixth title, 'The Tourist's Conversational Guide to English, French, German, Italian' by J. T. Loth, is regarded as perhaps the rarest of all the tiny Bryce miniature books. Tiny bookplates in the volumes indicate that they were owned by Rabbi Kalman L Levitan (d. 2002), the first president of the Miniature Book Society and also Harold Stanley Marcus (1905-2002) president of the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus and one of the most important and influential American businessmen of the 20th century. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2761 |
| Reference Sources | Bondy p. 107-8. |
| Acquired on | 14/10/09 |
| Author | Vetch, James |
| Title | [Manuscripts and printed works on the Suez Canal project collected by the Scottish Suez canal pioneer, James Vetch] |
| Date of Publication | 1842-55 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | James Vetch (1789-1869), was born at Haddington, East Lothian. He had a notable career, serving in the Royal Engineers, and then working for the Ordnance Survey, including a period surveying the Scottish islands. He also worked on the development of mining in Mexico and on the English railways, before turning his attention to the question of a canal between the Mediterranean and Red seas. "In 1843 Vetch published an Enquiry into the means of establishing a ship navigation between the Mediterranean and Red seas, after having worked on the problem since 1839. The work ran through several editions and attracted much public attention, but the government, and especially Palmerston, opposed the plan as contrary to the political interests of the country. Twelve years later Ferdinand de Lesseps, a former French diplomat who is usually credited with being the inspiration behind the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, published his scheme, printing Vetch's opinions as an appendix to his work" (Oxford DNB). Vetch spent much of the rest of his career working on sewers and drains. The collection contains the autograph manuscript of his pioneering article, together with a collection of the early reports and pamphlets on the scheme, collected and partly annotated by Vetch. The manuscript of the Enquiry (or Report, as it was first called) contains several emendations and deletions, and can be compared directly with the first printed edition of the work, which is present here. Also loosely inserted into the second volume is the orginal "Form of requiring entry of proprietorship" (for copyright purposes) made out by Vetch himself. There is also a marked-up proof copy of Vetch's entry in the old DNB. The bound collection appears to have been brought together roughly contemporaneously with publication of Lesseps's Isthmus of Suez, the latest dated work here. All these items are collected into two volumes bound in nineteenth-century blue half calf. Contents: I. a. VETCH, James. Report on the means of establishing a ship navigation between the Mediterranean & Red seas. [London] "1 Clifford's Inn, 20th January 1842." Manuscript, pp. 39, preceded by an engraved map. b. MACLAREN, Charles. "Account of the ancient canal from the Nile to the Red Sea" [excerpted from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, October, 1825.] pp. [274]-291. NOT IN NLS c. Manuscript notes: 1p. being estimates of the population of Israel at the time of the crossing of the Red Sea, from Biblical sources d. [Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India, with the minutes of evidence, 1836.] pp. 342-392. e. Manuscript notes: 2 pp. on the geography of Egypt. II. a. VETCH, James. Inquiry into the means of establishing a ship navigation between the Mediterranean & Red seas. London: Pelham Richardson, 1843. pp. 34, folding lithographed map, routes added in contemporary hand colouring. NOT IN NLS b. ANDERSON, Arthur. Communications with India, China, &c. Observations on the practicability and utility of opening a communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1843. pp. 48. c. CLARKSON, Edward. The Suez navigable canal, for an accelerated communication with India. second edition. London: T. Hookham and others for the British and Foreign Agency Office, 1843. pp. 16 + 8 (British and Foreign Institute Prosepectus). NOT IN NLS d. GALLOWAY, John Alexander. Communication with India, China, &c. Observations on the proposed improvements in the overland route via Egypt. London: John Weale, 1844. pp. 24, large folding lithographed map. e. [WALKER, William.] A plan for improving the transit of passengers and goods across the isthmus of Suez [drop-head title]. [May 1847]. pp. 15, [I], [2] (Appendix). NOT IN NLS f. LESSEPS, Ferdinand Marie de. The Isthmus of Suez question. London: Longman, 1855. pp. 223, [I} (blank), 3 folding engraved mnps, one printed in colour. |
| Shelfmark | Acc.12648 |
| Acquired on | 20/06/06 |
| Author | Wachsmuth, Karl Heinrich. |
| Title | Inamorulla oder Ossians Grosmuth. Ein Schauspiel in fünf Aufzügen. Nach Ossian. |
| Imprint | Dessau: Verlagskasse fuer Gelehrte und Kuenstler, |
| Date of Publication | 1783 |
| Language | German |
| Notes | The Ossianic poems of James MacPherson, first published in the 1760s, also had a huge impact on the Continent, particularly in the German-speaking countries. Numerous German translations appeared in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and also spin-off works such as this, a prose drama with occasional lyric passages by Karl Heinrich Wachsmuth (1760-1836), later to become a jurist and tax-collector in Saxony. It was based on the poems Croma and Oina-Morul from the Ossian cycle. A second edition was printed in Leipzig in 1787. Wachsmuth also produced "Fingal in Lochlin" (Dessau, 1782) a prose drama based on Fingal. The work was published by the Verlagskasse fuer Gelehrte und Kuenstler, an organisation set up to give financial assistance to enable scholars and academics to publish their own works. At this time it was run by Georg Joachim Goeschen, the famous publisher and printer. As Wachsmuth was only 23 at the time, and presumably short of funds, it was natural that he would seek financial support to get his works published. |
| Shelfmark | AP.1.211.48 |
| Acquired on | 03/06/11 |
| Author | Walker, Mary, Lady |
| Title | Munster village, a novel. |
| Imprint | London: Robson & Co., |
| Date of Publication | 1778 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | "Munster Village" is the best known work of one of Scotland's earliest female novelists. This is a copy of the very rare first edition; only one other copy is recorded in the UK. The author, Lady Mary Walker (1736-1822), was born in Fife, the youngest child of the fifth Earl of Leven. She married an Edinburgh-based physician, Dr James Walker, in 1762, but the marriage seems to have broken down after a few years; in later life she said she was forced to turn to writing to clothe, feed and educate her children. Between 1775 and 1782 she wrote four works in English, three of which were published. "Munster Village" was her best-received novel. In it, the idealistic young heroine, Lady Frances, the daughter of Lord Munster, refuses offers of marriage until she has founded a utopian village. Her village contains libraries, a botanical garden and an academy for scholars, with places reserved for young women as well as men. The didactic and mildly feminist tone of the novel - Mary Walker was a firm believer in a woman's right to an education and in intellectual equality in marriage - was in keeping with her other surviving works. In the 1780s Mary Walker moved to France with a new partner, George Hamilton, a landowner with an estate in Jamaica. It is not clear whether she actually married him, but she did have two children by him. While living in France Mary arranged for a French translation of "Munster Village" to be made, and she also published a novel in French, "La famille du duc de Popoli". Walker's works now seem very dated to the modern reader, but she does appear to have influenced two rather more successful female novelists of this era. Jane Austen borrowed from "Munster Village" the names of 'Eliza', 'Bennett', and 'Bingley' for "Pride and Prejudice". Similarly, Ann Radcliffe seems to have borrowed the name of the 'Marquis de Villeroi' for "The Mysteries of Udolpho" (1794) as well as certain character types, plot devices, and thematic concerns. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2780-2781 |
| Reference Sources | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| Acquired on | 07/05/10 |
| Author | Walter MacFarlane & Co. |
| Title | Illustrated examples of MacFarlane's Architectural ironwork |
| Imprint | Glasgow: [s.n.], |
| Date of Publication | [c. 1920] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a superb folio-size brochure aimed at members of the building trade highlighting the ironwork produced by Walter MacFarlane & Co.'s foundry at Possilpark, Glasgow. It includes black and white photographic illustrations of examples of the company's ironwork on recent buildings with a facing page of text. The location of each building is given along with the name(s) of the architect(s) of the buildings. A wide range of buildings and building features are covered: shops, hospitals, stairs, conservatories, railings etc.; work on overseas projects in the British Empire such as a bank in Madras and shop in Johannesburg is also included. This copy was a presentation copy to Messrs Wrathwell & Blackshaw of Stockport. Walter MacFarlane & Co. was one of number of Scottish architectural ironfounders who dominated British architectural ironwork production in the 19th century. Founded c. 1850 by Walter MacFarlane (1817-85) the firm quickly went from strength to strength to become the most prolific architectural ironfounders the world has seen. The foundry at Possilpark was opened in 1872 and expanded to cover 24 acres; it continued to operate successfully in the early 20th century, around the time this brochure was produced. After the 2nd World War, however, there was a sharp decline in demand for ornamental cast ironwork. The company became part of Allied Ironfounders in 1965, and was absorbed into Glynwed in 1966. The foundry at Possilpark eventually closed in 1967 and was subsequently demolished. The company name was bought by Glasgow firm Heritage Engineering in 1993. |
| Shelfmark | FB.l.391 |
| Reference Sources | http://www.scottishironwork.org/waltermac.htm |
| Acquired on | 24/04/09 |
| Author | Watt, James and John Robison |
| Title | Articles Steam and Steam-Engines |
| Imprint | [Edinburgh] |
| Date of Publication | [1817-1818?] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is one of the most important books dealing with the ground-breaking inventions of the Scottish engineer James Watt. Watt's steam engine made the railway revolution possible, and it is remarkable that this publication seems to be very rare. The book is a separate edition of John Robison's articles on Watt's discoveries written for the Encyclopedia Britannica, printed here with extensive and critical footnotes by James Watt himself. This appears to be the only time Watt ventured into print to discuss his inventions. Eight folding plates in good condition illustrate the processes described (designed by William Creighton and engraved by Lizars of Edinburgh). This is a nice presentation copy, with an inscription to a Dr. Hope in Watt's hand: the book later passed to the Hope Trust, an Edinburgh-based society for the promotion of temperance. The trust's bookplate is inside the front board. |
| Shelfmark | RB.m.492 |
| Acquired on | 03/03/03 |
| Author | Welsh, Irvine |
| Title | [Trainspotting] The glossary. |
| Imprint | Reed Books |
| Date of Publication | 1996 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This booklet has been signed by Irvine Welsh and gives a basic insight to the vernacular used in the novel. Examples range from the purely Edinburgh expressions "barry" (great) or "swedge" (fight), include the fairly self-explanatory (to most Scots ears at least) "maist", although the description of "Oor Wullie" (popular Scottish cartoon character (Our William))would boggle the minds of anyone familiar with the works of D.C. Thomson. The novel itself had been published several years previously to great acclaim, however the glossary was published as a tie-in with the recently released film. |
| Shelfmark | APS.2.206.050 |
| Acquired on | 17/11/00 |
| Author | Westminster Assembly |
| Title | Foirceadul aith-ghearr cheasnuighe [The shorter catechism] |
| Imprint | Glas-gho: Anna Orr |
| Date of Publication | 1776 |
| Language | Scottish Gaelic |
| Notes | Books in Scottish Gaelic are a key part of the National Library's collections, and we acquire such items wherever possible. This is a good copy of an eighteenth-century catechism, which also includes the alphabet, the Ten Commandments, various prayers, and a guide to numbers in arabic and roman. It was clearly designed for educational purposes. The book is particularly interesting as it was printed for a woman publisher, Anna Orr. |
| Shelfmark | ABS.1.205.031 |
| Reference Sources | SBTI Scottish Gaelic Union Catalogue 2769 |
| Acquired on | 13/09/05 |
| Author | William Blackwood (firm) |
| Title | [Printing blocks] |
| Date of Publication | [1840-1890?] |
| Notes | 64 blocks from the Edinburgh printing and publishing firm of William Blackwood, with 43 proofs recently printed at the Tragara Press, in excellent condition. Some blocks have a base of wood, some of metal, but all have a good-quality metal (mainly copper) surface. The images include scenes from a printer's workshop, steam trains and steam agricultural vehicles, landscapes, birds and animals, towns and harbours. Many are signed or initialled by the designer. They probably date from the mid-to-late 19th century. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2729 |
| Acquired on | 19/06/07 |
| Author | William Bruce |
| Title | Epistola Gulielmi Brussii Scoti. Ad illustrem D. Johannen Gostomium. |
| Imprint | Goerlitz, s.n. |
| Date of Publication | 1596 |
| Language | Latin |
| Notes | By the end of the 16th-century there was a large number of Scottish emigrants living in Poland and lands adjoining the Baltic Sea. One of the most prominent was the Scottish Catholic William Bruce. Born in Stanstill in Caithness around 1560 and educated in France, William Bruce worked in universities there before moving to Rome and then on to German city of Wuerzburg to take up the Chair of Law. Bruce's academic career was interrupted by a spell serving as a mercenary soldier when he joined the military campaign against the Ottoman Empire on the Slovak-Hungarian front. In 1595 he arrived in Poland and shortly afterwards he accepted the Polish Chancellor Zamoyski's offer of teaching Roman law at his recently inaugurated Humanist academy in Zamosc. During this time he had printed at least three pamphlets, including this one dated Torun, 12 February, attacking the Turks and stressing their threat to the Christian kingdoms of eastern and central Europe - the other two works are: "Ad principes populorum Christianum, de bello adversus Turcos gerendo" (Leipzig 1595) and "De Tartaris diarium" (Frankfurt, 1598). After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Bruce would became James VI/I's royal agent to Poland, securing trade links between Britain and Poland and protecting the rights of Scottish and English settler in Poland and Prussia. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2843 |
| Reference Sources | Bookseller's notes. J.K. Fedorowicz, England's Baltic trade in the early seventeenth century, (Cambridge, 1980). |
| Acquired on | 25/05/12 |
| Author | William Carrick |
| Title | Les types Russes |
| Imprint | [St. Petersburg: s.n.] |
| Date of Publication | c. 1860-1870] |
| Language | n/a |
| Notes | An album of 24 carte-de-visite photographs pasted onto folding boards, making up a portfolio. William Carrick (1827-78) was born in Edinburgh but moved to Russia the following year when his father set up a timber business in Kronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg. William visited Scotland in 1857 where he met a young professional photographer, John MacGregor, who encouraged him in his plans to set up a photographic studio in St Petersburg. Carrick's studio opened in 1859 and MacGregor joined him to work together in the business. When they were not taking commissioned portraits, Carrick would invite people from the street in to have their photographs taken. He called these portraits his 'Russian types' and he and MacGregor photographed a broad cross-section of Russian society, from nuns, to street hawkers, coachmen and soldiers. These photographs found approval with the Russian court, Carrick getting a diamond ring from Tsar Alexander II. It is unusual to find Carrick 'Russian types' photographs in this album format. The title in French on the front cover suggests that the album may have been produced for the Russian court as French was the main language of the court. |
| Shelfmark | Phot.sm.130 |
| Reference Sources | F. Ashbee & J. Lawson, "William Carrick 1827-1878" [Edinburgh, 1987] (Scottish Masters series no. 3) |
| Acquired on | 20/05/08 |
| Author | William Smellie (1697-1763) |
| Title | Traite de la theorie et pratique des accouchemens, et observations sur les accouchemens ... |
| Imprint | Paris : Delaguette |
| Date of Publication | 1754-1765 |
| Language | French |
| Notes | This is a three-volume French translation of William Smellie's classic 'Treatise of the Theory and Practice of Midwifery' published between 1754 and 1768. The man-midwife, William Smellie, was born in the parish of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire on 5 February 1697 and died in 1763. His medical training was prolonged and peripatetic: he received some medical instruction from John Gordon, a Glasgow surgeon and also spent time serving as a naval surgeon (March 1720-November 1721) on the Sandwich before setting up as an independent apothecary in Lanark in 1722. He remained in practice in Lanark for the next fifteen years and it was during this time that Smellie gained practical experience in midwifery. On 5 May 1733 he became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. However, it was not until 18 February 1745, at the age of 48, that he was awarded his MD degree by Glasgow University. Stimulated by his desire for further education, Smellie moved to London in 1739 and set himself up as a teacher with his lectures specializing in all aspects of pregnancy and labour. Over the next ten years he taught over 900 male students and an unknown number of female ones. Based upon records of his cases, Smellie published in 1752 'A Treatise of the Theory and Practice of Midwifery'. This was supplemented two years later by a volume of illustrations entitled 'A Set of Anatomical Tables, with Explanations'. Smellie's treatise describes the physiology of pregnancy and the mechanisms of both normal and abnormal labour with far more exactitude than any previous writer. In addition to French, the work was later translated into German and Dutch and became a classic in obstetric literature thus making Smellie the best-known name in 18th century midwifery. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2670 |
| Reference Sources | DNB |
| Acquired on | 05/07/07 |
| Author | Williamson, Susan |
| Title | Dirge or a voice in the night, originally addressed to a clergyman at Edinburgh 1845. |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: Anderson and Bryce |
| Date of Publication | 1848 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This work is attributed to one Susan Williamson on the strength of a telling inscription on the verso of the dedication to Queen Victoria which reads: 'The writer of this book was Miss Susan Williamson who resided in Edinburgh with her brother Mr. David Williamson, in some of her ways she was odd, but not considered to be insane'. The 600 or so pages which follow can certainly be considered to be odd if not downright unintelligble to readers in the 21st century. An extract from the introduction sets the tone for what follows: 'And all vitellent spirits revolt or resault over whom was ratified reflection as a whispered word imputave before the perfectability of planatory imparature in the temporal attribute, whose nullity remained in premonitory complex' The book consists of short texts of a religious nature dealing with sin, creation, eternity and so on. The only other copy traced is at the British Library and no other works by Susan Williamson are known. |
| Shelfmark | ABS.1.204.051 |
| Acquired on | 03/03/04 |
| Author | Wilson, Alexander |
| Title | Foresters: a poetic account of a walking journey to the Falls of Niagara in the Autumn of 1804. |
| Imprint | Newtown, P.A.: Bird & Bull Press |
| Date of Publication | 2000 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) was born in Paisley in 1766 and emigrated to the American colonies in 1794 after being imprisoned for publishing a severe personal satire against a local dignatory. He had many occupations, including weaver, packman, printer, school teacher, but his obsession was with ornithology. Wilson is best known for his magnum opus American Ornithology the first major attempt to describe and illustrate the birds of America which ran to nine volumes and was illustrated with Wilson's own drawings. Before he undertook that work, Wilson embarked on a walking tour to Niagara in 1804 that inspired the long poem giving an account of the journey, The Foresters. It first appeared in serial form in Philadelphia's leading literary magazine The Port Folio and came out in book form in 1818. The present edition is produced by the Bird & Bull Press of Newtown Pennsylvannia, the same town where The Foresters first appeared in book form. It is illustrated throughout with wood engravings in the classic British style by the Canadian artist, Wesley W. Bates. The book is composed in Dante type, printed on Arches mouldmade paper, quarter bound in morocco and enclosed in a cloth-covered slipcase. |
| Shelfmark | FB.s.758 |
| Acquired on | 14/11/00 |
| Author | Witherspoon, John |
| Title | Works |
| Imprint | Philadelphia: Printed and published by William W. Woodward |
| Date of Publication | 1800-1801 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is the first collected edition of the works of John Witherspoon (1723-1794), a Scot who emigrated to America and became a leading figure in the Revolution - even signing the Declaration of Independence. Born at Gifford in Haddingtonshire, Witherspoon studied at Edinburgh University and became a minister in the established Church of Scotland. He fought on the Hanoverian side in the 1745-6 Jacobite rising, and was briefly captured at the Battle of Falkirk in January 1746. Witherspoon became famous as the author of books and pamphlets defending orthodox presbyterian teaching, and in 1766 he was offered the presidency of the Presbyterian College of New Jersey at Princeton. In deciding to accept this post, he and his wife left Scotland for ever. Witherspoon proved a successful college president. His convictions led him to support the American Revolution and he was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He encouraged emigration from Scotland to North America, for which he was heavily criticised by some in his home country. This is the first edition of Witherspoon's collected works. It is a good set, including the scarce Volume Four which was printed later. There is a loose note in Volume Three advertising the fourth volume and urging subscribers to sign up for it. All four volumes are bound in early calf and have contemporary ownership inscriptions. The works include his sermons, lectures, selections from his letters and speeches to Congress. Volume Four is particularly interesting as it includes several works relating to Scotland, including Witherspoon's defence of encouraging emigration to North America. It is extremely surprising that there are no other copies of this important edition recorded in a public library outside North America. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2689 |
| Reference Sources | ESTC W2749 |
| Acquired on | 26/10/07 |
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