Books and Borrowing 1750-1830

List of libraries

Wigtown Subscription Library

wigtown

There are four registers from Wigtown for the period 1750-1840, covering the years 1796-99 and 1828-36. These have been fully transcribed. We are grateful to Mark Towsey for kindly donating his initial transcription of the earlier borrowers’ registers. Press on ‘Open’ next to any register to view images and transcriptions.

NameStart yearEnd yearTypeDescriptionPagesBooksBorrowersBorrowing records
MS 11/28
Open
00Town

Data for the borrowings in this ledger was provided by Mark Towsey, and the borrowing entries have been updated to diplomatic transcription by Danni Sterricks.

1765533439
MS 11/29
Open
00Town

Years are often not explicitly stated in either MS 11/29 or MS 11/30 and should therefore be treated with a degree of caution. From 1828, the library was theoretically open only on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but there are clear divergences from that rule that prevent it being a watertight indicator of years. 

There are instances where pages have been reassigned to new borrowers, sometimes more than once. In lieu of further information, what looks like the latest entry has been used, though the borrowings might in some cases be by multiple individuals.

Ditto marks (represented in this ledger by dashes) have been interpreted in the conventional sense as referring to the above entry. There are signs, however, of inconsistent usage: sometimes a ditto in the returned date column may refer to the borrowed date, or simply indicate a return with no particular date specified.

Borrowings of multivolume editions that do not state a number of volumes are taken as indicating all volumes (e.g. the entirety of a three-volume novel) unless this seems unreasonable, as in the case of extensive editions such as periodicals.

142254482674
MS 11/30
Open
00Town

Years are often not explicitly stated in either MS 11/29 or MS 11/30 and should therefore be treated with a degree of caution. From 1828, the library was theoretically open only on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but there are clear divergences from that rule that prevent it being a watertight indicator of years. 

There are instances where pages have been reassigned to new borrowers, sometimes more than once. In lieu of further information, what looks like the latest entry has been used, though the borrowings might in some cases be by multiple individuals.

Ditto marks have been interpreted in the conventional sense as referring to the above entry. There are signs, however, of inconsistent usage: sometimes a ditto in the returned date column may refer to the borrowed date, or simply indicate a return with no particular date specified.

Borrowings of multivolume editions that do not state a number of volumes are taken as indicating all volumes (e.g. the entirety of a three-volume novel) unless this seems unreasonable, as in the case of extensive editions such as periodicals.

126297412895
MS 5/27
Open
00Town

This ledger is a combination of regulations, minutes, borrowings, accounts and book acquisitions. Data for the borrowings in the ledger was provided by Mark Towsey, and the borrowing entries have been updated to diplomatic transcription by Danni Sterricks.

1843934272