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 76 to 90 of 697: |
Ordered by author Order by title | Order by date acquired |
| Title | Act of council, regulating the manner of carrying chairs. |
| Imprint | [Edinburgh] |
| Date of Publication | 1749 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | In modern times, local government concerns itself with seemingly banal regulations concerning parking, litter or public lighting. There is nothing new in this - perceived 'over regulation' was alive and well in Edinburgh over 250 years ago, as this broadside demonstrates. The city authorities were forced into action to ask 'chairmen' - those who carried sedan chairs and their occupants around the city - to ensure their chairs had 'a light fixed upon one of the fore-poles of the chair'. This apparently followed a number of incidents resulting in 'many hurts and inconveniences that have happened to the inhabitants & by the chairmen carrying or resting their chairs without lights under cloud of night'. Furthermore all chairs had to be numbered. If these regulations were not followed, chairmen faced being fined a shilling, imprisonment, loss of hire and the chair impounded! The first sedan chairs for public hire were introduced into Edinburgh in 1687. Horse drawn coaches were often unsuited to the narrow closes and steep hills of Edinburgh's Old Town. In 1687 there were only 6 chairs available but by 1779 there were 180 hackney-chairs and 50 private chairs in Edinburgh. The table of fairs introduced in the regulation dated 1738, referred to in this broadside, specified 6d a trip within the city, 4s for a whole day's rental, and 1s 6d for a journey of half a mile outside town. The majority of the chairmen were Highlanders and this was reflected in the use of tartan for their uniforms. |
| Shelfmark | RB.m.672 |
| Acquired on | 14/07/08 |
| Title | Cabinet of curiosities (No. I-IX) |
| Imprint | London : Printed for the booksellers |
| Date of Publication | 1795 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | The "London Corresponding Society" was a radical society which sought political reform, inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. It was founded in January 1792 by a group of friends, including a Scottish radical, Thomas Hardy (1752-1832). In the same year the Scottish political reformer Thomas Muir (1765-1799) helped to set up the "Association of the Friends of the People in Edinburgh". The "Cabinet of curiosites" is a miscellany containing prose, and some poetry, relating to members of the above reform societies arrested on charges of high treason. ESTC identifies only one other copy in the UK of nos. I-VII. This copy includes two additional parts. No.VIII contains a verse, "The petition of the clerks and apprentices of writers to the Signet and writers in Edinburgh". No. IX contains part of a letter by Muir "Extract of a letter from Mr. Muir to a friend in London, Sidney, December 13, 1794". Muir was arrested on a charge of sedition and transported to Botany Bay along with three other radicals. Among these reformers known as the "Scottish martyrs" was Thomas Fyshe Palmer (1747-1802), whose letter to Mr. Jeremiah Joyce describing life in Australia is also published in No. IX. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2766(1) |
| Reference Sources | Oxford DNB; bookseller's catalogue |
| Acquired on | 30/09/09 |
| Title | The case of the Bishop of Ross, resident of the Queen of Scots, who was seized and committed to the Tower by Queen Elizabeth, for traiterous practices, and endevouring to raise a rebellion against her. |
| Imprint | London: Printed for Edward Symon...sold by J. Roberts... |
| Date of Publication | 1717 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | A rare work attempting to construct a case against Count Karl Gyllenborg’s treasonable communications with Jacobites, by drawing on the case of John Leslie, Bishop of Ross’s support for Mary Queen of Scots' right of succession to the throne of England. The text revolves around the retelling of the events of 1584 with emphasis on pinpointing a legal parallel between the two cases of treason. Gyllenborg was imprisoned until the threatened rebellion blew over, more as a guaranteed safe custody or protection than as a punishment. |
| Shelfmark | RB.m.618 |
| Acquired on | 11/04/05 |
| Title | [Two Scotland vs England international football programmes] |
| Date of Publication | 1928, 1940 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | The earlier of the two football programmes featured here is the rare match programme of the England-Scotland football international of 1928, and is in fact the earliest international programme in the National Library's collections. The match in question was the final one of the Home Championship at Wembley Stadium and unusually it decided not who would win the competition, but who would get the 'wooden spoon'. In the event Scotland's team immortalized as the 'Wembley Wizards' unexpectedly thrashed the 'Auld Enemy' 5-1 to win for the first time at Wembley before an attendance of over 80,000. Going into the game the Scots were not expected to do well. They had lost the previous year to England at Hampden, and had drawn against Wales and lost to Northern Ireland in the other Home Championship fixtures. The team selected did not inspire much confidence either - one of the forwards Hughie Gallacher of Newcastle United had not played for a couple of months - and overall it was felt that the smaller and lighter Scots would be no match for their stronger English counterparts. However, a heavy pitch greatly helped the smaller Scottish forwards who ran rings around the lumbering English defenders. Alex James from Preston North End and Huddersfield's Alex Jackson shared the five goals, sparking great celebrations among the Scottish fans there to witness the famous victory and also among the passionate footballing public back in Scotland. The victory was also a major factor in establishing the tradition of the mass Scottish pilgrimage to Wembley every two years. The second programme relates to a less memorable England-Scotland wartime international, but the match, according to contemporary reports, was keenly contested on the day. During the Second World War full internationals were suspended; charity matches were held instead to raise funds for worthy war-related causes. The proceeds, over £5,000, of this Scotland-England match in 1940 went to the Red Cross. A film of the match was made by Pathé News for showing to the troops at home and abroad. The game played at Hampden in front of a crowd of 62,000 ended in a 1-1 draw. The most interesting feature of this programme is that it has been signed by most of the players. For Scotland some of the noteworthy signatures were those of Bill Shankly, then playing at Preston North End and later to become a great Liverpool manager, and Tom Walker of Hearts,later a Hearts manager in the 1950s. For England there are the autographs of Stanley Matthews of Stoke, one of the all time greats, as well as those of Stan Cullis of Wolves and the captain Bert Sproston of Manchester City. A sign of the times was that the English goalkeeper named in the programme, Sam Bartram was not allowed to travel by the RAF. |
| Shelfmark | RB.m.648, RB.m.649 |
| Acquired on | 28/05/07 |
| Title | De Hollandsche Wysgeer. |
| Imprint | Te Amsterdam : By Dirk onder de Linden, Bybel- en Boekverkooper, in de Kalverstraat, over de Nieuwezyds Kapel. |
| Date of Publication | 1759 |
| Language | Dutch |
| Notes | This is the complete run of an unusual and rare Dutch periodical. It covers a wide variety of subjects including natural history (with hand-coloured plates), foreign literature, the latest murder cases and developments in science and technology. The translations of literature include some Scottish texts. Most significantly there are references to James Macpherson's Europe-wide success for Ossian. Volume V contains a poetic description of the climate and landscape of the Scottish Highlands which prepares the reader for the first Dutch edition of a selection of 'Oscian' in volume VI (pp. 66-69). The translator Egbert Buys is known to have compiled at least two Dutch-English dictionaries, one of which specialized in terms used in art. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2717 |
| Acquired on | 21/07/08 |
| Title | In Ruhleben Camp, No.1, June 6th 1915 - No.9, October 1915, Xmas number, 1915 and The Ruhleben Bye-Election, July 1915 [subsequently The Ruhleben Camp Magazine, Volume I, No.1, March 1916 - No.4, August 1916 & Volume II, No.5, Xmas 1916 - No. 6, June 1917]. |
| Imprint | Berlin, J. S. Preuss |
| Date of Publication | 1915-1917 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Contents of In Ruhleben Camp: No.1, Sunday, June 6th 1915; No.2, Sunday, June 27th 1915; No.3, Sunday, July 11th 1915; No.4, August Bank Holiday Number 1915; No. 5, August 15th 1915; No.6, August 29th 1915; No.7, September 12th 1915; No.8, September 1915; No.9, October 1915; Xmas Number 1915; The Ruhleben Bye-Election, July 1915. Contents of The Ruhleben Camp Magazine: Volume I, No.1, March 1916; No.2, Spring Number, April 1916; No.3, Spring Number, May 1916; No.4, Summer Number, August 1916; Volume II, No.5, Xmas 1916; No.6, Summer Number, June 1917. At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, there were approximately 5 000 British subjects living in Germany. Along with the crews of several merchant ships either captured at sea, or trapped in German harbours, they were detained in an internment camp - a racecourse at Ruhleben by the town of Spandau, which was then on the outskirts of Berlin. After enduring very primitive conditions when the camp was first opened in 1914, they were able to enjoy a few of the comforts of pre-war life; indeed, the internees began to manage their own affairs with no objection from the Germans, who strictly adhered to the Geneva Convention. Letters, books, sports equipment, craft material and when a printing press was allowed into the camp, this led to the production of the above two journals. These journals give an insight into how the internees, or 'campers' as they referred to themselves, tried to re-create normal civilian life. Numerous advertisements are included, from tailors, shoemakers, carpenters and barbers to language instructors, Japanese laundry, watchmakers and even a bookshop. Sports results and reports are also well represented, with football, rugby, cricket and golf being the most popular. Dramatic reviews, poetry, short stories and cartoons also featured, as did coverage of the election they held in July 1915. One feature of the camp was its own postal system, the Ruhleben Express Delivery (RXD), which issued its own stamps, but which was replaced by the camp authorities in 1916 by a less popular stamp-less service. |
| Shelfmark | DJ.s.807(1) and DJ.s.806 |
| Acquired on | 28/06/01 |
| Title | [Theatre programme for two plays: 1. My son-in law 2: The frogs] |
| Imprint | [Edinburgh: privately printed] |
| Date of Publication | [1873] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a rare theatre programme specially printed for the performance of two plays at the home of (Henry Charles) Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885) on May 3,5 and 6 1873. In 1868 Jenkin had become Professor of Engineering at Edinburgh University, where he encountered and befriended the young student Robert Louis Stevenson, then studying engineering. Jenkin was a man of great learning and wide interests. His home theatricals at 5 Fettes Row in Edinburgh's New Town became events in the Edinburgh social calendar. This programme was for a performance of a French comedy ("Le gendre de M. Poirier" by Emile Augier), specially translated for the occasion, followed by an English-language version of the ancient Greek comedy "The frogs". Among the cast of actors for the two plays were Jenkin, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Edinburgh-based artist/illustrator William Hole who later illustrated many of Stevenson's works. In his "Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin", first published in 1887, two years after Jenkin's death, Stevenson reminisced fondly about his amateur dramatics as part of Jenkin's company. |
| Shelfmark | AP.3.208.15 |
| Reference Sources | DNB; RL Stevenson "Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin" |
| Acquired on | 18/07/08 |
| Title | Signal [+ misc. other French-language periodicals from World War II from 1940-44] |
| Imprint | Berlin: Deutscher Verlag |
| Date of Publication | 1941-44 |
| Language | French |
| Notes | A collection of periodicals relating to the Second World War in France. Apart from the English-language 'Life', the periodicals are all in French. The collection consists of: 'Life'- 20 November 1944, 'La Semaine'- 23 April 1942, 'Match' - 15 February 1940; and the following Nazi propaganda publications: 'Le Cahier Jaune'- 2 Dec 1941 (A French anti-Semitic publication), 'Dieppe 1942' (a news sheet published in response to the failed Allied raid on the port of Dieppe in August 1942), 'Der Adler' ('The Eagle' -Luftwaffe propaganda magazine)-20 May 1941; 29 July 1941; 24 March 1942: 19 Oct 1943 and 71 issues of 'Signal' from May 1941 to September 1944. 'Signal' was a key part of Nazi war propaganda: a magazine created in an effort to win over other European nations to the Nazi cause, and to promote and justify German hegemony over Europe. It was based on the format of the 'Berliner Illustrirter Zeitung' (BIZ), the leading picture and news magazine in Germany, and was first published on in April 1940 by the Deutscher Verlag in Berlin. It subsequently appeared on a fortnightly basis, and at its peak it reached a maximum circulation of 2,500,000 copies per issue, appearing in over 20 different languages. Due to its central role as a propaganda tool, the reporting of current affairs in 'Signal' had to fit in with the official Nazi line, and from 1943 onwards, as the war began to go badly for Germany, the focus of the magazine shifted more to celebrity gossip, sporting events and fashion. No expense was spared on illustrations, 'Signal' boasted full-page colour plates, and colour covers from 1944 onwards. With articles by an elite group of staff authors and war correspondents, the magazine quickly established itself as the number one propaganda publication in wartime Europe. The magazine continued to be produced well into 1945, but distribution was by then extremely limited due to the Allied advance into continental Europe. |
| Shelfmark | RB.l.244 |
| Reference Sources | "Hitler's Wartime Picture Magazine" (ed. S.L. Mayer) London, 1978 |
| Acquired on | 22/08/08 |
| Title | The state of Kelso Dispensary opened for the admission of patients, on the 5th of December, 1777. |
| Imprint | Newcastle: Printed at the Union Press, by J. Palmer |
| Date of Publication | 1788 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a very rare and unrecorded work on the Kelso Dispensary, the first hospital in the town and only the second in Scotland (after the Edinburgh Royal Public Dispensary). The Kelso establishment was founded by the Earl of Haddington in 1777. Dispensaries were served to a large degree by free student labour, and costs were kept down too through a high (working-class) patient turnover. This pamphlet provides us with a lot of information on health care in a provincial town in the late 18th century. We see, from the list of subscribers, that the great and the good gave money to support the dispensary; there is a list of regulations, treasurer's report, a most informative table detailing the diseases of the patients treated (consumption and fever were the most common causes of mortality) and a table of the parishes 'from which patients had been admitted'. Inserted into the pamphlet is a printed circular letter dated 31 October 1788, with a manuscript note from Thomas Scott reminding an eminent subscriber (addressed as your Lordship) that his subscription of 14 guineas was overdue. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2718 |
| Reference Sources | http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/03101401.html; |
| Acquired on | 19/05/08 |
| Title | A catalogue of books, lately imported from abroad ... which will be sold by way of auction ... |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: Printed for David Randie |
| Date of Publication | 1726 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | An extremely rare 1726 sales catalogue printed for David Randie. Randie was postmaster in the Canongate according to a manuscript annotation on the title page. The catalogue is stitched as issued, is 48 pages long, and features 755 lots which are arranged by bibliographical format. The auction took place 'in the little Plain-stone Closs opposite to the foot of Marlin's Wynd in the Cowgate' on Thursday the 13th of January 1726. The catalogue is extremely clean with leaves D3-4 partially uncut suggesting that the item was never actually consulted. The catalogue is not listed on ESTC. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2688 |
| Acquired on | 18/09/07 |
| Title | The Tam O Shanter |
| Imprint | 'Somewhere in France [Belgium, Holland, Germany] |
| Date of Publication | 1944-45 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is a group of 25 issues of a World War II trench newspaper written for Scottish soldiers. It was printed in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany and thus reflects the movement of Scottish troops in Western Europe towards the end of the war. They were each printed on one large 32 x 20 cm. sheet of paper. They were not type-set, but were crudely prepared on a typewriter and many of the copies also incorporate hand-drawn maps and other illustrations. The issues appear to have been folded down and carried by a soldier or soldiers for some length of time as there is dirt, tears, nicks, creases on many of them and all have horizontal and vertical fold lines. The Tam o'Shanter was the Divisional Newsletter of the 15th Scottish Division, a Territorial Division which had been disbanded at the end of WW1 and was revived in 1939. Tam o'Shanter was begun sometime in 1943. Newsletters were very much part of Divisional life and most followed the format of the famous "Wipers Times" of WW1. The contents are varied: good first-hand reports of military engagements including much on Arnhem; encapsulated reports from Scottish newspapers; anecdotes from soldiers and also humorous pieces. News was gleaned from local newspapers from where the battalions of the division recruited and was fed down from 21st Army Group of which the division was a part. There was a coordinating Press Office in St Andrew's House. The group consists of the following numbers: 'No.10. Somewhere in France. Divisional News Edition. Monday 24 July 44.' 'No.33. Somewhere in Belgium. Scottish News Edition. Friday 15 September 44.' 'No.40. Somewhere in France. General News Edition. Thursday 31 August 44.' 'No.56. Somewhere in Belgium. General News Edition. Monday 18 September 44.' 'No.65. Somewhere in Holland. General News Edition. Wednesday 27 September 44.' 'No.66. Somewhere in Holland. General News Edition. Thursday 28 September 44.' 'No.71. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 3 October 44.' 'No.72. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Wednesday 4 October 44.' 'No.73. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Thursday 5 October 44.' 'No.86. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Wednesday 18 October 44.' 'No.91. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Monday 23 October 44.' 'No.92. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 24 October 44.' 'No.99. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 31 October 44.' 'No.106. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 7 November 44.' 'No.110. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Saturday 11 November 44.' 'No.116. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Friday 17 November 44.' 'No.117. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Saturday 18 November 44.' 'No.118. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Sunday 19 November 44.' 'No.120. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 21 November 44.' 'No.121. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Wednesday 22 November 44.' 'No.129. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Thursday 30 November 44.' 'No.130. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Friday 1 December 44.' 'No.148. Somewhere in Holland. Edn Branch Publication. Tuesday 19 December 44.' 'No.212. Somewhere in Germany. Edn Branch Publication. wednesday 21 February 45.' 'No.213. Somewhere in Germany. Edn Branch Publication. Thursday 22 February 45.' |
| Acquired on | 15/02/08 |
| Title | Memento mori |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: Alexander Alison |
| Date of Publication | [1738] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This is an interesting piece of printed ephemera from mid-18th century Edinburgh. In Britain printed funeral invitations - called burial letters - are known from at least the late seventeenth century. Many, like this, exhort the reader to 'Memento mori' - remember that you must die. Usually printers would produce ready-printed non-specific invitations on which the name of the deceased and the time and place of the funeral would be entered by hand. Mr. Simson must have reasonably well-off to have been able to afford to have his invitations fully printed . These invitations were usually hand-delivered by servants or people specially employed for the task. In large burghs delivering such letters became a recognized occupation. Woodcut invitations such as this tended to use stock narrative or allegorical compositions. The images - the grim reaper, the skull and crossbones, the cortege - relate not only to the death of the person in question but also as reminder of one's own mortality. Little is known of David Simson apart from the fact that he was employed in the legal profession. The Library holds another example of such woodcut imagery (without letterpress but in manuscript) at APS.el.150. |
| Shelfmark | APS.2.205.005 |
| Reference Sources | Llewellyn, Nigel, The art of death. (London, V&A, 1991) GME.1/20 Hatches, matches and despatches: catalogue of exhibition held at General Register House 1996-97. GRP.1999.2.4 Gordon, Anne. Death is for the living. (Edinburgh, 1984) H4.84.2025 |
| Acquired on | 06/09/04 |
| Title | The King Emperor's Indian Durbar tour 1911-1912 |
| Imprint | [London?: s.n.] |
| Date of Publication | [1912] |
| Language | English |
| Notes | 'Durbar' is a Persian term that was adopted in India to refer to a ruler's court. It could also be used to refer to a feudal state council or to a ceremonial gathering. The term was used during the British Raj for special royal occasions. Three imperial Durbars were held in Delhi: the first, held in 1877, marked the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Queen Empress of India; the second, held in 1902-03, marked the coronation of King Edward VII. The last, held on 12 December 1911, marked the coronation of King George V as 'King-Emperor' of India, and was the only Durbar that the ruler attended in person. The 1911 Durbar was "the most spectacular ceremony in the history of the British empire" (ODNB); it cost over £1 million to mount, and was over a year in preparation. Over 200,000 people attended the events taking place in Delhi's Coronation Park, which were captured in print, photography and the relatively new technology of film. As well as providing a clear sign of Britain's commitment to maintaining its grip on India, the Durbar was also used for particular political purposes. George announced the reversal of the unpopular 1905 decision that had partitioned Bengal. He also declared Delhi the new capital and laid its foundation-stone (soon after moved when New Delhi was re-sited). The Durbar was followed by a shooting expedition in Nepal and a visit to Calcutta (Kolkatta), the former capital of British India. The royal party returned home the following year, reaching Portsmouth on 5 February 1912. This lavishly-produced photo album was produced to commemorate King George's Durbar and subsequent tour through India. There are 208 photographic prints with printed letterpress captions pasted beneath them, bound in a full red morocco album with gilt lettering on the front cover. The photographs cover not just the Durbar but the whole of the royal tour, from the departure from Portsmouth, on 11 November 1911, to the thanksgiving service at St. Paul's, London, in February 1912 to mark the safe arrival home of the king and queen. The album also contains a number of memorable images of the elaborate hunting trip in Nepal and of Indian royalty. The photographs are not attributed to anyone but the person taking them clearly had very good access to the royal party. It is possible that the photographer was Ernest Brooks (b. 1878), who photographed the British royal family during this period and who during the War, in 1916, became the first official photographer to the Western Front appointed by the British military (many of his photographs are preserved in the Haig papers in NLS's manuscript collections). It is not known how many copies were produced and whether they were ever intended for public sale; a likely explanation is that a few copies were compiled for people travelling with the royal party as a souvenir of the tour. |
| Shelfmark | Phot.la.79 |
| Reference Sources | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| Acquired on | 23/09/11 |
| Title | Slave trade. |
| Imprint | Haddington: G. Miller and Son, printers. |
| Date of Publication | 1814 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | An abolitionist broadside printed in Haddington, East Lothian indicating that the residents of Dunbar are petitioning Parliament for the universal abolition of the slave trade. Beneath the title is a woodcut of a slave being whipped by a white man, followed by an abolitionist poem and a call to the residents of Dunbar to sign the petition: 'It is requested that every well wisher to the melioration of the poor Africans, and those who, from motives of humanity, are inclined to give their dissenting vote to the revival of the bloody traffic, will come forward without delay.' |
| Shelfmark | RB.m.702 |
| Acquired on | 06/07/10 |
| Title | Notes upon, and illustrations of, the treatise intitled the Life of God in the soul of man. To which is prefixed a preface taking off the material objections lately published against that little Book, to which are subjoined, a poem upon prayer, with a short account of Dr. Scougal's life, &c. By a young gentleman. |
| Imprint | Edinburgh: W. Cheyne |
| Date of Publication | 1744 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | This rare book offers an insight into contemporary responses to one of the most popular Scottish devotional works. Henry Scougal (1650-1678) was a Church of Scotland minister in Aberdeenshire and professor of divinity at King's College, Aberdeen. He first published The Life of God in the Soul of Man, originally a manual for his private devotion, in 1677. It was reprinted many times into the 19th century, with enthuasiastic admirers as diverse as Gilbert Burnet, John Wesley, and Benjamin Franklin. This work shows the effect Scougal's book had on one reader described as a 'young gentleman' on the title page. The publisher's address to the reader refers to 'the author's distance from the press' (perhaps like Scougal he was based in Aberdeenshire) and his 'youthful modesty' which led to the anonymous publication. It also mentions that this 'impression' amounts 'only to a very small number, and upon a fine paper, neatly bound, for the reader's pocket', which must explain the scarcity of the book today. The author's preface, where he says that like Scougal he was a young man training for the ministry, explains that he was provoked to write by criticisms of Scougal's book: the first that Scougal's description of Christ as 'he never knew the nuptial bed' was indecent, and the second that he was accused by 'a sect pretty well known' of being Arminian and Socinian. A search of ESTC and ECCO does not uncover any details of these controversies, which would have remained unknown were it not for the 'young gentleman's' defence. His book itself contains several different responses to Scougal: a commentary on The Life of God; a poem 'On Prayer', a 'Life and Character' of Scougal, including a Latin text translated into English, and a poem in praise of Scougal. The author was clearly as much an admirer of Scougal the person as Scougal the theologian, perhaps identifying the young clergyman as a role model, and the mixture of prose and poetry in the volume show him inspired intellectually and emotionally by Scougal's life and work. Only one other copy of this book is listed in ESTC, at the British Library, with a different collation. Though the edges of the first few leaves are damaged, the book preserves its original wrappers. It comes from the library of the 20th-century book collector Bent Juel-Jensen. |
| Shelfmark | RB.s.2708 |
| Reference Sources | Bookseller's catalogue; Oxford DNB entry for Henry Scougal |
| Acquired on | 21/02/08 |
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