Books and Borrowing 1750-1830

List of libraries

Dumfries Presbytery Library

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dumfries-presbytery

Located in Dumfries. Founded in c.1706. Type of library: Other.

This bar chart shows total borrowings per year. The Dumfries Presbytery Library Issue Book is in one volume covering the period 1732-1826, and has been fully transcribed. Gaps in this bar chart therefore represent periods where no borrowings were recorded.

["1732","1733","1734","1735","1736","1737","1738","1739","1740","1741","1742","1743","1744","1745","1746","1747","1748","1749","1750","1751","1752","1753","1754","1755","1756","1757","1758","1759","1760","1761","1762","1763","1764","1765","1766","1767","1768","1769","1770","1771","1772","1773","1774","1775","1776","1777","1778","1779","1780","1781","1782","1783","1784","1785","1786","1787","1788","1789","1790","1791","1792","1793","1794","1795","1796","1797","1798","1799","1800","1801","1802","1803","1804","1805","1806","1807","1808","1809","1810","1811","1812","1813","1814","1815","1816","1817","1818","1819","1820","1821","1822","1823","1824","1825","1826"]
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Library description

Appears to have been formed initially around a small collection of books from James Kirkwood's parochial libraries initiative, but the major part of the collection came with a bequest from John Hutton that arrived in 1713. Hutton (d.1712) was originally from Dumfriesshire and had been First Physician to King William III and Queen Mary II, Physician General to the Armies and Land Forces, and, from 1710, MP for the Dumfries Burghs constituency. The library was moved into a purpose-built space, Presbytery House, in 1730.

Borrower description

Primarily ministers in the Presbytery of Dumfries, but also open to non-ministerial subscribers, who are described in the records as 'cives'. There is a list of subscription payments (five shillings annually, raised to six shillings in 1765) made by 'cives' members in the final pages of the borrowing ledger.

Many of the borrowers sent servants to fetch and return books.

Holding description

As noted above, the bulk of the collection came in the bequest from Howard, with an emphasis on theology. However the library continued to make acquisitions into the nineteenth century.

A large portion of the collection (Howard (2002) suggests approximately 64%) survives as part of the New College Library at the University of Edinburgh. These books are searchable in the Edinburgh University Library online catalogue. Equally, Kirsty Stewart the New College Collections Curator and Archivist kindly provided a handlist of the surviving DPL books for this research project, which is referred to in the data as 'NCC'.

Sources

  • Accessions records: A Catalogue of the Books in the Library belonging to the Presbytery of Dumfries (Dumfries: Robert Jackson, 1784).

Secondary sources

Harold J. Cook, ‘Practical Medicine and the British Armed Forces after the “Glorious Revolution”’, Medical History, 34 (1990): 4–5.

Gordon Goodwin, ‘Hutton, John (d. 1712)’, revised by Harold J. Cook, ODNB Online (23 September 2004).

JV Howard, ‘Herd-boy, Court Physician, MP, Spy: the life of Dr John Hutton of Dumfries’, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 35 (2005): 164–68.

John V. Howard, ‘John Hutton, M.D. and the Dumfries Presbytery Library, 1714–1826’, Scottish Church History, 32.1 (2002): 41–69.

G. W. Shirley, ‘Dumfriesshire Libraries’, in The Gallovidian Annual 1932, ed. Dorothy M. McBurnie (Dumfries: Robert Dinwiddie, 1932), 130–35.

Mark Towsey, Reading the Scottish Enlightenment: Books and their Readers in Provincial Scotland, 1750–1820 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 123–31.

Paul Kaufman, Libraries and their Users (London: The Library Association, 1969), 141-42

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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: 5936
Number of borrowers: 934
Number of library records: 11928

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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: 5
Number of books: 600
Number of borrowers: 267
Number of library records: 14502

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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: 859
Number of borrowers: 243
Number of library records: 15521

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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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