Books and Borrowing 1750-1830

Tag: Innerpeffray Library

A Visitor to Innerpeffray Library: Rupert Vardon de Burgh Griffith

Reposted with permission from the Innerpeffray Library blog: https://innerpeffraylibrary.co.uk/visitor-vignettes-lieutenant-rupert-vardon-de-burgh-griffith/ Almost exactly 124 years ago, on 22nd August 1899, one of my favourite signatures was entered into the Innerpeffray Visitors’ Books by a young visitor to the library. Every time I come across this page, I am delighted all over again that Alice Mary Griffith allowed […]

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A Library Tour of Manchester

Reposted with permission from the Innerpeffray Library blog Back in December 2022, I headed to Manchester for a whirlwind day tour of some of its prestigious libraries! On the day I was lucky enough to take part in a tour of Chetham’s Library and spend a little time researching at the Portico Library. Unfortunately I […]

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Forgotten Bestsellers: George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle (1749-88)

In our series on Forgotten Bestsellers, we have tended so far to focus on works of fiction, which I fear may perhaps have given loyal readers a slightly false impression of the genres most often borrowed from our libraries. In fact, although fiction does become very popular in the early nineteenth century, it is not […]

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More Creative Work Inspired by the Books and Borrowing Project

This week, we’re happy to present the second of our Highly Commended Creative Writing Competition entries – i.e. works inspired by Books and Borrowing project materials. This week it is a short story, written by Virginia Crow. Virginia is an award-winning historical fiction author who grew up in Orkney, and now lives in rural Caithness. […]

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Books, Books, More Books (and some Borrowers)! Two Library Excursions at the Books and Borrowing Conference

Today is the last day to register for the Books and Borrowing conference in April – don’t miss out, and make sure to sign up now at Reading and Book Circulation, 1650-1850 | University of Stirling Online Shop. We are excited to announce that there will be two excursions during the Books and Borrowing conference, […]

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Announcement: Books and Borrowing Creative Writing Competition Winner!

We are delighted to announce that the Winner of our Creative Writing competition is Helen Hutchinson, whose short story ‘Taking Flight – A Victorian Tale’ was inspired by the Borrowers’ Register from Innerpeffray Library pictured above. Our judge, Daisy Hay, on awarding Helen the prize, commented: This is a beautifully evoked and moving story that […]

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A Visitor to Innerpeffray Library: Héloïse Russell-Fergusson

Reposted with permission from the Innerpeffray Library Blog’s ‘Visitor Vignettes’ series The Innerpeffray Library visitors’ books contain signatures and details of visitors to the library from 1859 to the present day – with each modern visitor adding to the living archive. By digitising and investigating the information within the visitors’ books, it is possible to […]

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J. Cuthbert Hadden: ‘Master of the Song’

Originally posted at the Library of Innerpeffray blog and re-posted here with permission. In short, in regard to music, our great writers have been just like other people—some have been passionately fond of music, some have liked it in a mild kind of way, and some have been absolutely indifferent to it.[1] James Cuthbert Hadden […]

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Festival of Reading

Last week I spent a delightful few days at the Library of Innerpeffray’s inaugural Festival of Reading! From  8 to 11 September 2021, Innerpeffray hosted eight Tayside writers to celebrate the Past on the Page, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott. In the run up to the festival, […]

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A Comparison of the Borrowings of Different Classes at the Library of Innerpeffray, John Gray Library, Haddington, and Selkirk Subscription Library

In my last blog post, I discussed the Library of Innerpeffray’s exceptional labouring-class borrowing demographic. Labouring-class people were the driving force for borrowings at Innerpeffray as early as the eighteenth century, contradicting narratives claiming that they only began accessing libraries in the nineteenth century, with access previously exclusive to scholarly, aristocratic, and professional elites. The […]

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