Books and Their Borrowers at the Library of Innerpeffray C. 1680–1855
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Books and their Borrowers at the Library of Innerpeffray c. 1680–1855 Jill Dye University of Stirling Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2018 1 2 ABSTRACT Founded c. 1680, the Library of Innerpeffray loaned books to local people in rural Perthshire without charge. By 1747, a record was established detailing who borrowed which books from the library, alongside additional information to identify the borrower (addresses, occupa- tions, relationships). This thesis establishes a data set created from the borrowers’ register to 1855 and addresses the lack of a detailed institutional history against which to assess it, in- cluding the intentions of its founder, the impact of its rejuvenation in the eighteenth century, and the contents of the library collection over time. It identifies in detail not only who was using the library, but how they were using it, in contrast with who was permitted to use the library and how it was intended to be used. In this context, characteristics of the books popularly selected by users are identified, and patterns assessed overall are traced within the borrowing lives of four individual users. The thesis demonstrates how borrowing records are better understood not as evidence of reading, as they have been used by scholars previ- ously, but of library use in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The attention paid by this thesis to the influence of both institutional and personal contexts on book borrowing has strong implications on how similar records elsewhere might be approached. Its original contribution to knowledge is to demonstrate a new and effective methodology for studying borrowers’ records within the discipline of Library History. Further, the deeper understand- ing of the Library of Innerpeffray as expounded in this thesis, alongside the detailed data set of borrowing created as part of it, will facilitate better use of the records of Innerpeffray by other scholars across multiple disciplines. This thesis is the result of an Applied Research Collaboration between the University of Stirling, the University of Dundee and the Library of Innerpeffray. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Katie Halsey, Lara Haggerty and Daniel Cook, without whose guidance, encouragement and support I could not have completed this thesis. I am grateful too to Angus Vine and Kelsey Jackson Williams for their enthusiastic and useful feedback. Thanks also to the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities for funding this project through an Applied Research Collaborative Studentship, and to the University of Stirling and the Centre for Scottish Culture at the University of Dundee for supporting trips to ar- chives, training and conferences across the UK. Thank you to those libraries and archives who facilitated this research, particularly Lara and all the volunteers at Innerpeffray, as well as the Leighton Library in Dunblane, Orkney Li- brary & Archive, High Life Highland and the University of St Andrews. Thanks also to the groups who allowed me to present parts of this thesis at different stages, and whose engage- ment was both helpful and encouraging: British Association of Romantic Studies, Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, Independent Libraries Association, University of London History of Libraries Seminar, University of St Andrews Learning Hour and University of Stirling Eighteenth-Century Writing Group. My sincere thanks to those individuals who set time aside to listen to/talk about/read parts of this thesis and other related outputs, especially Pippa Bell, Maxine Branagh-Miscampbell, Jamie Cumby, John Dye, Erin Farley, Jessica Hudson, Molly Kernan, Mhairi Rutherford, Liam Sims, Robert Skilleter, Joanna Stephens and Natassa Varka. Finally, thank you to all my friends and family for their support, and for never questioning my 500-mile move to study ‘a library in the middle of nowhere’. 4 CONTENTS Introduction 9 Chapter One: Foundation 24 Chapter Two: Shelf Life 59 Chapter Three: People 85 Chapter Four: Books 115 Chapter Five: Individual Borrowers 148 Chapter Six: Leighton Library 173 Chapter Seven: Wider Comparisons 204 Conclusion 233 Bibliography 236 Appendix One: Genre Terms 246 Appendix Two: Innerpeffray Site Plan 247 Appendix Three: Foundation Collection 248 Appendix Four: Parish Boundaries 268 Appendix Five: Penalties Set for Books Borrowed 269 Appendix Six: Items Shelved above the West Window 270 Appendix Seven: Alexander Maxton’s Borrowing 273 Appendix Eight: John Whytock’s Borrowing at the University of St Andrews 294 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Innerpeffray Chapel-Phase Book Label 26 Figure 1.2 Innerpeffray Book Plate 27 Figure 1.3 Madertie’s Signature 27 Figure 1.4 ‘LDM’ Binding 28 Figure 1.5 Da[vid] Drummond Signature 28 Figure 1.6 Patrick and Lilias Drummond Provenance 29 Figure 1.7 A[ndrew] W[ood] Monogram 30 Figure 1.8 Language of Works in the Foundation Collection 32 Figure 1.9 Translations within the Foundation Collection 33 Figure 1.10 Genre of Works in the Foundation Collection 34 Figure 1.11 Breakdown of Religious Genres within the Foundation Collection 35 Figure 1.12 Place of Publication of Works in the Foundation Collection 40 Figure 1.13 Date of Publication of Works in the Foundation Collection 40 Figure 1.14 Date of Publication of Works in the Foundation Collection by Decade 42 Figure 1.15 Genre of Works in the Foundation Collection published after 1650 43 Figure 1.16 Format of Works in the Foundation Collection 43 Figure 1.17 Format of Works in the Foundation Collection by Publication Date 44 Figure 1.18 Library of Innerpeffray Exterior 52 Figure 1.19 Library of Innerpeffray Interior 53 Figure 1.20 Categories of the Archbishop’s List 54 Figure 1.21 Formats Given on the Archbishop’s List 55 Figure 1.22 Languages of Works on the Archbishop’s List 56 Figure 1.23 Publication Dates Given of Works on the Archbishop’s List 56 Figure 2.1 Items Present in the 1855 MS Catalogue Not in the 1813 MS Catalogue 65 Figure 2.2 William Nicolson’s Donation 66 Figure 2.3 Number of Books Borrowed (by month) 1853-1857 67 Figure 2.4 Number of Books Borrowed (by year) 1853-1857 67 Figure 2.5 Publication Date of Items in the 1813 MS Catalogue 71 Figure 2.6 Genre of Items in the 1813 MS Catalogue 73 Figure 2.7 Religious Genre Percentages (Foundation Collection vs 1813 Catalogue) 74 Figure 2.8 Publication Date of History Titles Not in the Foundation Collection 77 Figure 2.9 Language of All Items as at 1813 79 Figure 2.10 Language of Items as at 1813 excluding the Foundation Collection 79 Figure 2.11 Language Distribution in Most Prevalent Genres as at 1813 80 Figure 2.12 Format of All Items as at 1813 81 6 Figure 2.13 Format of Items as at 1813 excluding the Foundation Collection 81 Figure 2.14 Format Distribution in Most Prevalent Genres as at 1813 81 Figure 2.15 Place of Publication of Items as at 1813 82 Figure 3.1 Lord Cecil’s Annotations to the Innerpeffray Rules c. 1853 88 Figure 3.2 Number of Books Borrowed per Month 1747-May 1855 98 Figure 3.3 Top 20 Most Prevalent Addresses in the Borrowers’ Register 100 Figure 3.4 Map of Top 20 Addresses 101 Figure 3.5 No. Visits by Occupation 105 Figure 3.6 Borrowing by Month (1747-1800) Students vs Overall 108 Figure 3.7 Genres Borrowed by Schoolmasters 110 Figure 4.1 Publication Date (Works Borrowed vs Collection) 115 Figure 4.2 Genre (Works Borrowed vs Collection) 117 Figure 4.3 Language (Works Borrowed vs Collection) 120 Figure 4.4 Language of Works Borrowed (Chapel Phase vs New Building) 121 Figure 4.5 Format of Works Borrowed (Chapel Phase vs New Building) 122 Figure 4.6 Format by Age (All Works in the Collection) 123 Figure 4.7 Shelves over the West Window 125 Figure 4.8 Top 10 Most Popular Authors (1747–May 1855) 126 Figure 4.9 Relative Popularity of Robertson, Buffon and Clarke 131 Figure 4.10 Top 12 Most Borrowed Items (1747–May 1855) 135 Figure 4.11 Volumes of Buffon Borrowed 139 Figure 4.12 Language of Works Borrowed/Not Borrowed 145 Figure 4.13 Publication Date of Works Borrowed/Not Borrowed 146 Figure 5.1 Borrowers’ Register Entry for John Bayne, Servant, 11 July 1753 151 Figure 5.2 John Bayne’s Borrowings 152 Figure 5.3 Ebenezer Clement’s Early Borrowings 1753–4 156 Figure 5.4 Ebenezer Clement’s Borrowings 1756–7 157 Figure 5.5 Ebenezer Clement’s Later Borrowings 1772–1775 159 Figure 5.6 John Whytock’s Borrowings 160 Figure 6.1 Map Showing Innerpeffray and Leighton Libraries 174 Figure 6.2 Portrait: Robert Leighton (L. Schuneman, Edinburgh University EU0082) 175 Figure 6.3 Items Acquired for the Leighton Library 1776–7 182 Figure 6.4 Letter from Patrick Murray in Support of Daniel McNie, 4 June 1827 189 Figure 6.5 Extract from the Leighton Library Matriculation Book, 1740 191 Figure 6.6 Genres Borrowed in 1790 Sample (Leighton vs Innerpeffray) 195 Figure 6.7 Format of Items Borrowed in 1790 Sample (Leighton vs Innerpeffray) 197 Figure 6.8 Age of Items Borrowed in 1790 Sample (Leighton vs Innerpeffray) 198 7 Figure 6.9 Extract of Leighton MS 27, p. 40 (William Sheriff’s Borrowing) 201 Figure 7.1 Genres in the 1816 Kirkwall Catalogue 211 Figure 7.2 Genre of Works Borrowed from Kirkwall Library in 1816 212 Figure 7.3 Genre of Works Borrowed from Kirkwall Library by John Dunn 214 Figure 7.4 Donation to Inverness Library 217 Figure 7.5 ‘Invernes’ Library Iron Stamp 218 Figure 7.6 Student Borrowers using both St Andrews and Innerpeffray Libraries 224 Figure A.1 Appendix One: Genre Terms 246 Figure A.2 Appendix Two: Innerpeffray Site Plan 247 Figure A.3 Appendix Three: Foundation Collection 248 Figure A.4 Appendix Four: Parish Boundaries 268 Figure A.5 Appendix Five: Penalties Set for Books Borrowed 269 Figure A.6 Appendix Six: Items Shelved above the West Window 270 Figure A.7 Appendix Seven: Alexander Maxton’s Borrowing 273 Figure A.8 Appendix Eight: John Whytock’s Borrowing, University of St Andrews 294 8 INTRODUCTION David Drummond, third Lord Madertie, founded the Library of Innerpeffray close to his home in rural Perthshire c.