Books and Borrowing 1750-1830

List of libraries

Aberdeen Theological Library

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aberdeen-theological

Located in Aberdeen. Founded in 1700. Type of library: Institutional. Collection: Still in situ.
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This bar chart shows total borrowings by year. As only one register of Aberdeen’s 7 registers covering our period has been transcribed, this bar chart shows borrowings only from that first register (1786-97).

["1786","1787","1788","1789","1790","1791","1792","1793","1794","1795","1796","1797"]
[{"name":"Borrowings per year","data":[266,361,288,256,203,356,389,376,258,258,309,13]}]

Library description

A theological library was instituted in the year 1700 by the Synod of Aberdeen, who granted the sum of 1000 merks to the Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, out of the rents of an estate mortified to support the Professor of Divinity in King’s College; the books purchased ‘to be set up in a distinct library by themselves in the Marischal College, or some convenient room in New Aberdeen,’ ‘so as to be patent for all the students of Divinity in both colleges.’ In 1754, the books were placed in the Divinity Hall of the college, and the professor continued to select those to be purchased till 1785, when a committee of the students received the management. The contributors of a small sum annually for four years were constituted life-proprietors. There is a printed catalogue of the collection, and the regulations under which it is managed are sanctioned by the colleges, no alteration of them being valid unless made with the consent of both colleges, in order to avoid ‘the many evils arising from precipitation. (from The New Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol XII: Aberdeen (Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1845), 1160; Commissioners appointed by his Majesty, 101). 

The surviving borrowing records date from a reorganisation of the collection into the form of a subscription library. This was something of a hybrid arrangement in the university context and was also used for the natural philosophy library. 

A set of 1819 regulations for the library confirms that students who had paid four annual contributions (at a rate of 9s. per annum) became ‘proprietors’ of the book stock ‘and as such, entitled to the use of books during the whole subsequent part of his life while in Scotland, without making any additional payments’. There were also stipulations for the rolling appointment of students to the management of the library in collaboration with its librarian.

Borrower description

Borrowers were students of theology registered at either Marischal or King's College, Aberdeen.

Holding description

The majority of the books are theological, although works of philosophy and morality, and some more general works are also present.

Sources

  • Other: Books belonging to the Theological Library of Marischal College, Aberdeen (Aberdeen: D. Chalmers and Co., 1823)
  • Other: Catalogue of Books belonging to the Theological Library of Marishcal College, Aberdeen (1790)
  • Other: 1823 catalogue digitised on Google Books https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Catalogue_of_Books_Belonging_to_the_Theo/zx8k1GgHlR0C?hl=en&gbpv=1

Secondary sources

Iain Beavan, ‘Marischal College Library, Aberdeen, in the Nineteenth Century: An Overview’, Library & Information History, 31.4 (November, 2015): 258-79, (258-59).

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Aberdeen Theological Library

Location: Aberdeen
Foundation date: 1700
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 7
Number of books: 360
Number of borrowers: 278
Number of library records: 3333

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Advocates Library

Also known as Advocates' Library

Location: Edinburgh
Foundation date: 1682
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 54
Number of books: 5899
Number of borrowers: 932
Number of library records: 11812

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Chambers' Circulating Library

Also known as Robert Chambers' Circulating Library

Location: Edinburgh
Foundation date: 1828
Type of library: Other
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 919
Number of borrowers: 311
Number of library records: 7319

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Craigston Castle Library

Location: Craigston
Foundation date: 1604
Type of library: Other
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 396
Number of borrowers: 189
Number of library records: 684

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Dumfries Presbytery Library

Location: Dumfries
Foundation date: c.1706
Type of library: Other
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 636
Number of borrowers: 249
Number of library records: 3475

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Edinburgh University Library

Also known as University of Edinburgh Library

Location: Edinburgh
Foundation date: 1582
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 36
Number of books: 2339
Number of borrowers: 2069
Number of library records: 14638

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Glasgow University Library

Also known as University of Glasgow Library

Location: Glasgow
Foundation date: 1451
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 8
Number of books: 3476
Number of borrowers: 1013
Number of library records: 15372

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Haddington Library

Also known as John Gray Library

Location: Haddington
Foundation date: 1717
Type of library: Other
Number of library registers: 2
Number of books: 462
Number of borrowers: 743
Number of library records: 5187

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Hunterian Museum Library

Location: Glasgow
Foundation date: 1807
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 244
Number of borrowers: 42
Number of library records: 368

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Innerpeffray Library

Also known as The Library of Innerpeffray

Location: Innerpeffray
Foundation date: 1680
Type of library: Other
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 793
Number of borrowers: 1182
Number of library records: 5393

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Inverness Kirk Sessions Library

Also known as Inverness Presbyterial Library

Location: Inverness
Foundation date: 1706
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 1
Number of books: 38
Number of borrowers: 20
Number of library records: 61

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Leighton Library

Also known as Bibliotheca Leightoniana
Leightonian Library
Library of Dunblane

Location: Dunblane
Foundation date: 1688
Type of library: Subscription
Number of library registers: 5
Number of books: 809
Number of borrowers: 306
Number of library records: 6737

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Orkney Library

Also known as Kirkwall Library, Orkney Subscription Library

Location: Kirkwall
Foundation date: 1683
Type of library: Subscription
Number of library registers: 4
Number of books: 236
Number of borrowers: 127
Number of library records: 1636

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Royal High School of Edinburgh

Also known as High School of Edinburgh

Location: Edinburgh
Foundation date: 1658
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 5
Number of books: 1966
Number of borrowers: 2410
Number of library records: 19968

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Selkirk Library

Also known as Selkirk Subscription Library

Location: Selkirk
Foundation date: 1772
Type of library: Subscription
Number of library registers: 2
Number of books: 832
Number of borrowers: 179
Number of library records: 11812

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St Andrews University Library

Location: St Andrews
Foundation date: 1612
Type of library: Institutional
Number of library registers: 25
Number of books: 7560
Number of borrowers: 673
Number of library records: 21578

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Wigtown Subscription Library

Location: Wigtown
Foundation date: 1795
Type of library: Subscription
Number of library registers: 4
Number of books: 345
Number of borrowers: 103
Number of library records: 6230

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