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Thematic Strengths

Theology

Theology took pride of place in the hierarchy of learning for centuries after the foundation of the university, and no discipline is better served by its historic collections. Far from the homogeneous presbyterianism associated with Scotland in the popular mind, the religious culture of the North East was remarkably diverse, and successive waves and countercurrents of religious thought and practice over the centuries have left rich deposits of texts in the university’s library. A late medieval foundation by a humanist bishop and canon lawyer, King’s College was initially reluctant fully to embrace the Reformation. In 1593 a second, staunchly Protestant institution, Marischal College, was founded under the influence of Andrew Melville. The moderate and irenical tradition of King’s continued firmly into the mid-seventeenth century, when the ’Aberdeen Doctors’ were the only academic theologians in Scotland to refuse to sign the National Covenant in 1638-9. Religious variety therefore characterised Aberdeen’s two colleges from the start, and subsequent generations expanded this further, with the foundation of Quaker meeting houses in the city, for instance, and a resurgence of Catholicism in the era of Jacobitism. The union of King’s and Marischal into the University of Aberdeen in 1858 and the subsequent absorption into the university of numerous libraries of other institutions and individuals has gradually accumulated in the university a collection uniquely representative of the complex religious history of the North-east of Scotland, and indeed of its intellectual and cultural history more generally.

This diversity is fully represented in the university’s collections both of continental theological books in Latin and of local Scots and English authors and imprints. In addition to the libraries of King’s and Marischal (present especially in the pi and SB collections), the university has absorbed a diverse collection of other primarily theological collections. These include the Theological Library founded in 1700 for the benefit of divinity students at both King’s and Marischal (c. 3000 volumes, 1610-1909); the Diocesan Library, predominantly relating to the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of Scotland and their often troubled relationship (c. 2500 books and 3000 pamphlets, 1520-1851); the Taylor Psalmody Collection (some 1080 volumes illustrating the complete history of psalmody from 1546 to 1929); and the Brown-Lindsay Collection (720 books and c. 2930 pamphlets illustrating 300 years of the dissenting Presbyterian churches). Two particularly interesting smaller collections in which theological materials predominate are the Quaker House Library (325 volumes originating from two Quaker meeting houses in the North-East founded in the 17th century) and the Bibliotheck of Kirkwall (350 mostly 16th- and 17th-century volumes, ranging from unique items of local interest to important works from continental presses, which originated in the northernmost ancient public library in the Anglo-American world: the library of the parish of Kirkwall established on the island of Orkney in 1683).

Nor are the university’s theological collection of this kind limited to various strands of Christian thought: one of the most remarkable of all is the collection of Hebraica and Judaica assembled by Dr. J. H. Biesenthal (1804-86), a Polish convert from Judaism to Christianity, sold to the Free Church College in Aberdeen in 1872, and eventually deposited on permanent loan to University library in 1968. Its 2140 volumes - described at the time of their acquisition as ’one of the finest Rabbinical collections in Great Britain’ - represent virtually the entire published output in Hebrew from the advent of printing until 1872, together with extensive related collections in German, Yiddish, and a range of Near Eastern languages. Complementary holding include a superb Sephardi manuscript codex of the Hebrew Bible dated 1493/4.

Law

King’s College was founded by a canon lawyer, Bishop William Elphinstone, and texts in canon and civil law represent one of the oldest deposits of medieval manuscripts and incunabula within the university’s collections. Ancient, medieval and early modern legal traditions are still avidly studied in the university today, most notably in the Centre for the Study of the Civil Law Tradition; and a recently compiled catalogue of the several thousand volumes of medieval and early modern legal texts held in the university is available on the internet.

Medicine

In 1497 a royally endowed Chair of Medicine was established at King’s College: the oldest chair of the subject in the English-speaking world. The foundation charter of Marischal College in 1593 made provision for the teaching of medical subjects within the arts curriculum, and a chair in the subject was established in 1700. As a result of these early foundations and of a long series of benefactions by medical professors and practitioners, the University now holds one of the best collections of early European medical and scientific printed texts available anywhere. Early benefactors included Duncan Liddell (d.1613), professor of mathematics and later medicine in Helmstedt, and Alexander Reid (d.1641), distinguished medical practitioner in London and brother of the Latin Secretary to James VI & I. 17th- and 18th-century medicine is further represented in the Gregory Collection, based on the library of John Gregory (1724-73), Mediciner at King’s College. John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Chancellor, presented 1300 volumes of scientific and medical works to Marischal in 1782; Sir William Fordyce made another major donation in 1790; and further medical benefactions continued throughout the nineteenth century. An additional important institutional collection in this field is the FL Collection, which numbers 1048 mainly medical and scientific books between 1600 and the early 19th century. Finally, as well as ongoing purchases of rare books, this historic collection is being complemented by microfilm purchases, such as the series of rare printed sources concerning the European plague between c. 1470 and 1822 from the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (34 reels of microfilm, 1994).

Philosophy/Arts

’Philosophy’ as construed in the undergraduate curriculum of the early modern university was virtually encyclopedic in breadth. The King’s College curriculum of 1641, for instance, prescribed texts for the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew language and literature, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, cosmology, meteorlogy, natural history, astronomy, geography, optics, music, physics, metaphysics, psychology, ethics, economics, and politics. The historical collections of the university are equally wide-ranging - far too diverse, in fact, for adequate summary here. A few particular areas of strength are noted below. Further impressions of individual holdings and collections can be gained by clicking on the images illustrating this website.

Classical literature and philology

The collections of classical literature and philology beloved to the humanists of the sixteenth century were massively enhanced, for instance, by the gift from James Melvin (1795-1853) of some 7000 volumes of 15th- to 19th-century editions of classical authors and works on Latin language and literature. These include nineteen incunabula, several manuscripts, and imprints from the best classical printing houses from Aldus Manutius onward.

Natural philosophy

The scientific interests more characteristic of the seventeenth century onwards are no less richly represented, for example, by the 2100 books in Gregory Collection. Based upon the library of John Gregory (1724-73), FRS, Mediciner at King’s College, and later Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University, this Collection was subsequently enlarged by other members of the family, which included some fourteen professors of mathematics, natural science, medicine and other subjects in 18th-century Scottish and English universities. Complementary holdings are the university’s extensive historic collection of scientific instruments.

Historical Materials

A third example illustrating the depth of historical materials for the study of the early modern period is the MacBean Collection: one of the largest collections of Jacobite material extant, including over 3500 books, 1000 pamphlets, sermons and magazine articles, and 1580 woodcuts, engravings and other loose plates (the visual material from which is now available in on the internet). Related collections like the King Collection (c. 4145 further pamphlets in 405 volumes), recent microfilm acquisitions, and a rich collection of Jacobite militaria and related materials in the university museum enhance the world-class status of this collection.

In the last analysis, the historical collections of the university are too rich for adequate summary. Further impressions or individual holdings and collections can be gained by clicking on the images illustrating this website.