'trnrTx~ a Q- . U/2(') UM.ZOl^SO National Library of Scotland 1111111111! ■*6000430170* Uf!fx (1.7.1r°^rh) PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY SECOND SERIES VOL. XIV BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCOTTISH TOPOGRAPHY VOL. I March 1917 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCOTTISH TOPOGRAPHY BY THE LATE SIR ARTHUR MITCHELL, K.C.B. AND C. G. CASH, F.R.S.G.S. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I EDINBURGH Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society 1917 PREFACE I. The History of this List Sir Arthur Mitchell had at one time the intention of preparing a topographical bibliography of his native province of Moray, and to that end collected a consider- able amount of material. This was not published, owing, as I understood from him, to the death of the editor or proprietor of the local newspaper in which it was to have been printed. But Sir Arthur preserved all his jottings, and continued and extended the habit he had formed of making a note of books of a topographical character. He did not limit his jottings to Moray, but noted books dealing with Scotland in general or any part of it. His notes were made largely on the unused portions of notepaper tom off letters ; these were dropped as written into a succession of cardboard boxes, and they gradually accumulated into a quite serious quantity of ‘ scraps of paper ’—as we in those peaceful pre-war days were in the habit half- humorously of calling them. The Moray slips were, of course, more or less together, but the others were in no order at all, nor had they any semblance of uniformity of arrangement. It became evident to Sir Arthur after some years that such a mass of jottings bade fair to be un- manageable. My personal acquaintance with Sir Arthur began when he was at work on his List of Tours, published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901. He was wishing some specific information about Timothy Pont, and through Mr. Clark, then Keeper of the vi PREFACE Advocates’ Library, I was able to supply what was wanted. This led to a very pleasant, friendly intercourse, which continued up to Sir Arthur’s death. I helped him some- what with his Supplementary List of Tours, and I passed through the press his Second Supplementary List. The similarity of our tastes and methods of working led Sir Arthur to tell me about his contemplated biblio- graphy, and to show me the chaotic multitude of slips he had accumulated. He wished to get these into some publishable shape, and spoke of issuing them as in some sort a supplement to the Macfarlane Geographical Collec- tions ; but, being conscious of the lessening of his working powers, he did not feel equal to the task of arranging them, nor did he at all see what arrangement was practicable. He asked my help, and with some hesitation I consented to give it. I think I should not have done so if I had foreseen how big the task was to be, and how little of it Sir Arthur himself would be able to do. I took home some thousands of the slips—eventually all of them—and brooded over them, trying to think out some method of dealing with them, and some order to which they could be brought. The arrangement that I tentatively adopted is, with but little change, that in which the List is now issued. My first task was, therefore, to sort the slips into sets. It soon became evident that Sir Arthur had in many cases noted the same book many times, and by rejecting all redundant slips the mere bulk was rapidly and greatly reduced. Additions were, however, con- stantly being made, as new books were published, or others came to our knowledge. The work was necessarily slow, because I could devote to it only part of my scanty leisure. But from the begin- ning of the summer of 1904 until Sir Arthur’s death in October, 1909, I was in constant conference and corre- spondence with him about multitudinous details. For PREFACE vii much of that time I spent a few hours on one afternoon of each week, over a cup of ‘ bohea,’ in consideration of points that required elucidation or decision. We by no means confined our talk to the bibliographical business ; and those who best knew Sir Arthur can best understand the delight of those afternoons, when we chatted about everything under the sun and moon. In 1905 and 1906 our work on this List was considerably interrupted, as Sir Arthur was editing the Macfarlane Geographical Collections, with volume ii. of which he had much trouble. I was able to render him very material assistance with the Introduction to that volume. As is known, he handed over most of the editing of volume iii. to Mr. Clark, finding himself not properly equal to the task. I was several times made aware that Sir Arthur regarded his life as drawing towards its close. He frequently regretted his loss of ready memory and his lessening of working energy, and sometimes he would ask that an after- noon should be void of serious work and should be given up merely to recreative chat. Twice he had short but sharp attacks of illness, which he quite definitely took as warnings; doubtless his medical knowledge told him their true import. He methodically put his literary house in order, destroying, to my regret, many of his memoranda that contained what I considered valuable antiquarian and topographical matter. After his death, I continued my work at this List, arranging and adding as before. When the Scottish History Society definitely decided to publish it, I saw that the great diversity of form among the matter of the slips rendered it necessary that they should all be written out in uniform style. This was, in Sir Arthur’s phrase, a work ‘ of some size,’ and it occupied my entire leisure for a year and a half. viii PREFACE It must not go without saying that I have received considerable kind help from personal friends, from book- sellers, from librarians, and from correspondents otherwise unknown to me; indeed throughout I have met with the utmost readiness to give any information or help that I found it necessary to seek. For all such kindness I have expressed, and here again express my cordial thanks. Obviously this List can make no pretensions to com- pleteness or finality. It is really a record of books and articles that have come in some way under the notice of two men. But it is a large list, its arrangement renders additions easy, and it is hoped that it will facilitate refer- ence to matter of the class dealt with. A really complete list is not possible without an organisation of workers; not possible, perhaps, without the establishment of a Scottish Topographical Library, in which might be gathered together all the books that should be entered in such a complete list. Such an ideal library was often talked of between Sir Arthur and me, and such a library ought certainly to be brought into existence. II. The Arrangement of this List This List is arranged in two main divisions, Topo- graphical and Topical—according to places and according to subjects. In the first main division, Topographical, first are placed general descriptions of Scotland ; then follows an alphabet of Counties, with the addition of three Territories not limited by the boundaries of a single County, viz. Borders, Galloway, and Highlands and Islands. Within each County or Territory first are placed books dealing with that region in general, and then the places within the region are arranged in an alphabet of their names; and for the region, or for its included places, the books are PREFACE ix arranged in an alphabet of authors. In the case of the largest towns, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, sub- divisions have been used, so as to break up these large groups into smaller and more manageable ones. This arrangement brings together in groups all books having a common topographical reference. Where necessary, a book has been placed in more than one such group. It was found, however, that many books deal rather with a topic than with a place, and in the second main division, Topical, such books have been placed under an alphabet of Topics; under each Topic the books are arranged in an alphabet of authors. Very many books already entered in the first main division have been entered also in the second main division if their subject- matter seemed to make this desirable. An index, mainly of places, has been added, and with its help it should be possible to find readily any book in the List dealing with a definite place or a definite subject. It is hoped that the arrangements here described will be found useful and practicable. Tours.—In Sir Arthur’s Lists of Tours in the Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., he entered two groups of books not set among Tours in this present List. The first group includes books of description that suggest personal observation as their basis though they do not actually record the making of such observations ; these books have been entered under the name of the place described. The second group includes records of visits to single places ; these also have been entered under the name of the place visited. The list of Tours in the present List is therefore limited to what may most legitimately be considered as books of tours, that is, definite records of somewhat extended travels in which several places were visited.