Chapter 8 Other Clerical Book Collectors in Restoration Scotland Surviving records of what Scottish ministers owned in the way of books at this time vary enormously. An investigation into the probate values of books in the testaments of fifty-two Scottish clerics, 1660–1689, recorded in the Edinburgh Commissary Court, has shown that twenty-five (48%) make no mention of books as assets for valuation purposes, six (11.5%) mention books but value them together with other moveable goods, another six value the deceased’s books separately and under £100, and fifteen (28.85%) value books at £100 or over. Comparing this data against an estimate of the probate value of an aver- age book, achieved through an analysis of occasions where the records of ac- tual numbers of books left as well as their probate value have survived, sug- gests that a value of £100 for books indicates a collection of around sixty volumes. This leads to the conclusion that most clerical libraries were very small. Only nine out of the sample owned around or over one hundred vol- umes, but, of these, six probably had around or over 200 volumes and four possessed over 300, but of these last only one had over 400 volumes: Andrew Cant (d.1685), Principal of Edinburgh University from 1675 and at the same time minister of St Giles Church, second charge, left books valued for probate at 5,000 merks (£3333 6s. 8d.), which might have represented some 2,000 vol- umes, thus equalling or exceeding Nairn’s holdings. Of course, many testa- ments have not survived, including Nairn’s, and on other occasions where tes- taments ignore books, the ministers concerned are known, from other evidence, to have had libraries: William Annand, discussed below, is one such case. All in all, the findings from testaments are likely to give a less rosy picture of book ownership amongst Scottish clerics than was actually the case.1 Luckily, in addition to testamentary evidence, detailed records for a number of clerical libraries, some substantial, formed, or developed, in Scotland at this period survive. Even the records of small collections can show interesting holdings: the list of fifty-six items from the collection owned by the Revd Humphrey Galbraith, minister of Dollar, divided up amongst his ministerial 1 For these investigations into the probate values of clerical libraries and book prices, see Simp- son, ‘The library’, pp. 75–87. The Edinburgh testaments examined are in nrs CC8/8/70-79. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���� | doi:10.1163/9789004413788_010 <UN> 92 Chapter 8 colleagues after his death, included an atlas of Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594), Cotta’s The triall of witch-craft, editions of the classics, and Johnston’s Delitiae poetarum Scotorum.2 Seven much bigger libraries will be investigated here, those of William Annand, John Gray, Robert Leighton, James Lundie, William Moore, Patrick Scougal (incorporating that of his son Henry) and James We- myss. The survey below cannot hope to give a full account of these collections, but aims to point out main strengths and stress possibly unexpected details, particularly in relation to Nairn’s collection. For ease of comparison, it follows the subject sequence of the previous chapters. The contemporary clerical collection best known today and which has had the most written about it was that of Nairn’s mentor Robert Leighton, Bishop of Dunblane, 1662–1672, and Archbishop of Glasgow, 1670–1674.3 This was built up over a much longer period than Nairn’s, and might have included books in- herited from his father Alexander. Leighton left Scotland for good in 1674 and spent his last ten years in the south of England. His own manuscript catalogue, compiled very late in life, survives,4 and the books largely do too, at Dunblane, for Leighton bequeathed them to the diocese as an independent library for diocesan clergy. The library, which became a subscription library in the eigh- teenth century, is still in the same building constructed for the founding collec- tion. Leighton’s books numbered around 1360 bound volumes plus a number of pamphlets and manuscripts, totalling perhaps around 1500 items in all.5 Also known to Nairn was Patrick Scougal, minister of Saltoun when Nairn was minister of neighbouring Bolton in the early 1660s. He became Bishop of Aberdeen in 1664. His collection, numbering over 1100 items, and bequeathed to King’s College Aberdeen (where it largely remains) also contained the books 2 nls MS 976, fols 119–120; Rae, ‘The origins’, p. 10. Galbraith’s collection also included other, unlisted, books. 3 See: ‘An account of the foundation of the Leightonian Library’; W.J. Couper, Bibliotheca Leigh- toniana, Dunblane (Glasgow: privately printed, 1917); Godfray Davidson, Catalogue of selected volumes from the Leighton Library, Dunblane, Scotland ([Dunblane]: 1960); Butler, Life and letters, pp. 582–592; Gordon Willis, ‘The Leighton Library, Dunblane: its history and contents’, The Bibliotheck, 10 (1981), pp. 139–157. Knox, Robert Leighton, pp. 225–228, includes a note by G.D. Henderson comparing Leighton’s library with that of the Scougals. 4 nls MS 21193, fols 89–104. See also Murray C.T. Simpson, ‘Robert Leighton’s catalogue of his own library: a note’, The Bibliotheck 12 (1985), pp. 91–92. This catalogue never gives dates or other imprint details, and rarely edition information. There is also a 1691 catalogue extant: Leighton Library MS 1. Entries in this can be laconic and some are of the order “44 lib. He- braici” or “The sixth bundle, lib. 15”. I am grateful to Mr Gordon Willis for this and for other information about the Leighton Library. 5 The Leighton Library books are fully catalogued and included in the online catalogue of Stir- ling University Library, with the location set to ‘Leighton Library’. <UN>.