| Opening Hours & Contacts |
| The Wolfson Reading Room |
| The New Library |
| Search Catalogues |
| Collection Highlight |
| Collection Highlight Archives |
All records from Printed Collections CLD
Record number # 1| Collection
title |
Incunabula (Inc.) |
| Description |
Many editions within this Collection of 231 incunabula (books printed before 1501) are associated with early teachers and major benefactors of the University, including William Elphinstone (1431-1514), Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of King’s College; Hector Boece (c. 1465-1536), first Principal of King’s College; Dr James Melvin (1795-1853), Rector of Aberdeen Grammar School (1826-53) and John Vaus (c. 1484-c. 1539), first Humanist (at King's College). |
| Keywords |
Theology; law (canon); history; philosophy; classical literature; humanism |
| Strengths |
The disciplines of theology, canon law, philosophy and history figure prominently in the Collection, though amongst other texts is a copy of the famous Hortus Sanitatis (Mainz, 1491). Most of the books, as would be expected, are the product of the presses of Continental Europe. The Collection includes a Caxton printing of The Golden Legend. |
| Languages |
Latin, Greek, English |
| Identifier |
Inc |
| Physical characteristics |
231 titles. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1501- |
| Contents date
range |
c. 1469-c.1501 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Anderson, P. J., ‘Unique Early Printed Books: Note’, Aberdeen University Library Bulletin 6 (1927), 394. Johnstone, J. F. K., ‘Scriptorum Aberdonensium incunabula’, Scottish Notes and Queries, 1st series, X (1896-7), 1, 17, 33; XII (1898-9), 97, 125; 2nd series, VII (1905-6), 155. Macfarlane, Leslie J., ‘William Elphinstone’s Library’, Aberdeen University Review XXXVII (1957-58), 253-71. Macfarlane, Leslie, J. ‘William Elphinstone’s Library Re-visited’ The Renaissance in Scotland: Studies in Literature, Religion, History and Culture offered to John Durkan, (eds.) A. A. Macdonald, M. Lynch & I. B. Cowan (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 66-81. Menzies, Walter B. ‘Some Early Law Books in Aberdeen University Library’, Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Publications 15 (1932). Menzies, Walter B. & Oldham, J. B. (ed.), ‘Some early bookbindings in the Aberdeen University Library’, Aberdeen University Review XXV (1937-8), 215-21. Mitchell, William Smith, Notes on Three Incunabula in Aberdeen University Library (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1952). Mitchell, William Smith, Catalogue of the Incunabula in Aberdeen University Library (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1968). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The early seventeenth-century bequests which essentially founded the library of Marischal College contained a number of pre-1501 texts, including nine from the Common Library of New Aberdeen, and twelve from Thomas Reid, Latin Secretary to James VI. In the middle of the nineteenth century, no fewer than nineteen incunabula came to Marischal College from the library of Dr James Melvin (1795-1853), a noted classical scholar, and Rector of Aberdeen Grammar School. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
pi Collection |
| Description |
A chronological Collection comprising some 7220 volumes, including the libraries of individual benefactors and of institutions, such as the Common Library of New Aberdeen. Many of the early alumni of King’s and Marischal Colleges travelled widely, frequently to continue their education on the Continent. Amongst these aspiring students, later to become benefactors to the libraries of the Colleges, were Duncan Liddell, Thomas Reid, the Latin Secretary to James VI, and his brother, Alexander. The University (specifically King's College) had the right of legal deposit from 1710 to 1836, and most of the books claimed under this privilege are housed in the SB or pi Collections. |
| Keywords |
Theology; humanism; classical literature; science (Renaissance); medicine (Renaissance). |
| Strengths |
Rich in editions of the classics and works on theology. Greek editions of Aesop (Basle, 1550), Aeschylus (Venice, 1518) and Euclid (Basle, 1533), along with many early editions of the Church fathers came to Marischal College through the bequest of Secretary Thomas Reid. The most important section, however, is undoubtedly that containing early scientific and medical works. Pre-eminent are two copies each of the first two editions of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus (1543, 1566). Duncan Liddell's copy of the 1566 edition contains (in his hand) the beginning of the Commentariolus of Copernicus. Liddell was one of Marischal College's major seventeenth-century benefactors. The copy of Harvey’s Exercitatio anatomico de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (Frankfurt, 1628) came as part of the benefaction of Alexander Reid (?-1641), surgeon and lecturer in anatomy. |
| Languages |
Latin, Greek, English, Italian, French, German |
| Identifier |
pi |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 7220 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1501- |
| Contents date
range |
1501-1780. Books printed on the Continent 1501-1600. Books printed in England 1501-1641. Books printed in Scotland up to 1781 |
| Associated publication(s) |
The central reference works are: Drummond, H. J. H, A Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe 1501-1600 in Aberdeen University Library (Oxford: O.U.P., 1979); Wightman, W. P. D., Science and the Renaissance, vol. 2: An Annotated Bibliography of the Sixteenth-century Books Relating to the Sciences in The Library of the University of Aberdeen (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962). Beavan, I, ‘Marischal College, Aberdeen, and its Earliest Library Catalogue: a Reassessment’, Bibliotheck, 22 (1997), 4-19. Beavan, I, ‘‘‘The Best Library that Ever the North Pairtes of Scottland Saw": Thomas Reid (Latin Secretary to James VI) and his Books, in The Reach of Print: Making, Selling and Using Books, (eds.) Peter Isaac & Barry McKay (New Castle: Oak Knoll, 1998), 205-20. Cusick, F., ‘Early Botanical Books in Aberdeen University Library’, Aberdeen University Review, 47(1977-8), 121-32. Dobrzycki, Jerzy, ‘The Aberdeen Copy of Copernicus’s Commentariolus’, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 4 (1973), 124-7. Macfarlane, Leslie J., ‘William Elphinstone’s Library’, Aberdeen University Review, 37 (1957-58), 253-71. Macfarlane, Leslie, J. ‘William Elphinstone’s Library Re-visited’ in The Renaissance in Scotland: Studies in Literature, Religion, History and Culture offered to John Durkan, ed. by A. A. Macdonald, M. Lynch & I. B. Cowan (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 66-81. Mitchell, W. S. German Bindings in Aberdeen University Library: Iconographic Index and Indices of Initials, Binders and Dates . (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Mitchell, 1961); Molland, A. G., ‘Duncan Liddell (1561-1613): an Early Benefactor of Marischal College Library’, Aberdeen University Review, 51(1985-86), 485-99. Molland, A. G., ‘Scottish-continental Intellectual Relations as Mirrored in the Career of Duncan Liddell, 1561-1613,’ in The Universities of Aberdeen and Europe: the First Three Centuries, ed. P. Dukes (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1995). 79-101. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Highly selective |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Prominent among those who gifted or bequeathed books held in the pi collection are Duncan Liddell (1561-1613), Professor of Mathematics and later of Medicine at Helmstadt, and Thomas Reid, college teacher and later Latin Secretary to James VI. These benefactions were made to the Library of Marischal College in the early part of the seventeenth century. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
SB Collection (and KCx Sequence) |
| Description |
The SB Collection contains volumes which date between the early-seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. Its content partially reflects the range of studies engaged in by scholars of both Marischal and King’s College during this period. Also contained within the SB Collection are several hundred pre-Victorian nineteenth-century novels. The KCx sequence is a discrete section of predominantly nineteenth-century books on the medical sciences, and consists of c.4,400 volumes. The University (specifically King's College) had the right of legal deposit from 1710 to 1836, and most of the books claimed under this privilege are housed in the SB or pi Collections. |
| Keywords |
Science; mathematics; economics; philosophy; theology; literature (European). |
| Strengths |
Contains first editions of many important works such as Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (London, 1687) and Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (London, 1776). |
| Languages |
English, Latin, French, German, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Welsh |
| Identifier |
SB |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 32,900 volumes and growing |
| Accumulation
date range |
1600- |
| Contents date
range |
c. 1600-1840-(1860); and see the chronological relationship of this Collection with the pi Collection. |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active (retrospective conversion) |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Notable among the benefactors of this period is James Fraser, a graduate of King’s College and Secretary to the Chelsea Hospital, who not only rebuilt the library at King’s College in the 1720’s, but also further enriched its stock with a considerable collection of books. The size and depth of the Collection reflects the fact that King's college had the right to claim legal deposit between 1710-1836. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
SBL Collection |
| Description |
Giving a unique view of the output of the printing press since its establishment in the North of Scotland, this Collection comprises books, pamphlets and journals printed in Aberdeen, from 1622 to 1800 inclusive. As such it includes the output of Aberdeen's first printer, Edward Raban (1579-1658), whose press was active between 1622 and 1649, the work of Francis Douglas (1719-1786), John Boyle (c. 1730-1794?), and the Chalmers family in the eighteenth century. The Collection represents the output largely of relatively small-scale printing establishments, set up to satisfy the demands of readers in Aberdeen and area for printed material. The books and pamphlets are largely on theological, philosophical, historical and civic matters. |
| Keywords |
Theology; philosophy; history; politics; medicine; classical literature. |
| Strengths |
The Collection reflects the early appearance and then steadily increasing presence and importance of print culture in Aberden and north-east Scotland. |
| Languages |
English, Latin |
| Identifier |
SBL |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 500 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1974- |
| Contents date
range |
1622-1800 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Beavan, I., 'The Book Trade in Aberdeen and Area, 1700-1832', in Studies in the Provincial Book Trade of England, Scotland and Wales before 1900., ed. by D. Stoker (Aberystwyth: University of Wales, 1990), 54-75. Beavan, I., ‘Raban and his Successors: Local Printing (1622-1800) held in Aberdeen University’, Northern Scotland, 18 (1998), 97-104. Drummond, H. J. H., ‘Aberdeen University Library Special Collections (Printed Books)’, The Bibliotheck vols. 2/3 (1959-62), 35-40. Edmond, J. P., The Aberdeen Printers, Edward Raban to James Nicol, 1620-1736 (Aberdeen, Edmond & Spark, 1884). Edmond, J. P., Hand-list of Books Printed at Aberdeen or by Aberdeen Printers 1620-1736 (Aberdeen: Edmond, 1884). Edmond, J.P. Last Notes on the Aberdeen Printers (London: n.pub., 1888). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active |
| Custodial history/provenance |
As part of the establishment of the (then) Department of Special Collection and Archives, a named collection was formed, portraying the printing history of the City of Aberdeen from its inception in 1622 through until 1800. Previously, the various volumes had been spread through a number of the other collections. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Lib R Collection |
| Description |
This Collection includes books of aesthetic or scholarly value, of the period 1801 to present day. Modern limited editions and the output of private presses are included, as are many nineteenth-century topographical works. |
| Keywords |
Theology; church history; anthropology; classical literature; science; medicine; natural history; bibliography; topographical works; graphology; calligraphy; art. |
| Strengths |
Textual rarities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; also private press books frequently produced in limited editions and – an increasingly important section – all travel and topographical books of the period 1801-1860. This category contains many first edition accounts (often illustrated) of travel in Europe, the East, Africa and Australia. |
| Languages |
English, French, Latin, Welsh, Manx, Syriac, German |
| Identifier |
Lib R |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 6350 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1801– |
| Contents date
range |
1801– |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Selective. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
This collection of books was originally housed in the Librarian's Room, hence the designation LibR. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Alford Mutual Improvement Association Library |
| Description |
This Collection gives (a now) rare insight into the stock held by a county library in rural Aberdeenshire. Founded in 1839, with further additions made in the 1920s, this Collection (which includes stock from Alford Parish Library) consists of c.1700 volumes. Whilst literary material (mainly Victorian authors) forms the bulk of the Collection, science and agriculture is also represented. |
| Keywords |
Literature (Victorian); geology; natural history. |
| Strengths |
Victorian novelists are very well represented within the Collection. Within imaginative writing, nineteenth-century editions of Scott, Thackery, Trollope, Dickens, Tennyson, Hawthorn and Twain all figure prominently. Arthur Conan Doyle, Rider Haggard appear to have been favourites. There are a number of late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century first editions. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
AM |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1700 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1839-1920s |
| Contents date
range |
1824-1926 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Alford Mutual Improvement Association, Alford Mutual Improvement Association's Library (Banff: Banffshire Journal, 1908). AU MS 3438 Records of Alford Mutual Association's library, 1922-29. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
- |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Bibliotheck of Kirkwall |
| Description |
The 350 volumes in the Collection, mostly of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are mainly theological in content. They emanate not just from Britain, but many come from continental European presses, with editions of Calvin, Bèze, Knox and Zanchius. Samuel Rutherford is also well represented. The volumes also throw light on the social, political and academic debates of the time, with rare seventeenth-century texts (academic theses) of Andrew Aidie (later Principal of Marischal College), and Thomas Reid, (later Latin Secretary to James VI), as well as other Aberdeen scholars, including Gilbert Burnet, Arthur Johnstone, William Lauder, Matthew Mackaile, and John Row. |
| Keywords |
Theology; philosophy; history; Church Fathers; Reformation. |
| Strengths |
Theology as expected figures largely in this Collection with a good representative example of material favoured by literary readers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, much of it in Latin, and with much of the volumes printed abroad. |
| Languages |
Latin, English, French |
| Identifier |
BK |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 350 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1650-1890? |
| Contents date
range |
1510-1802 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Anderson-Smith, Myrtle, 'The Bibliotheck of Kirkwall', Northern Scotland 15 (1995), 127-134. Craven, J. B., Descriptive Catalogue of the Bibliotheck of Kirkwall 1683, with a notice of the founder, William Baikie, M.A., of Holland (Kirkwall: n.pub., 1897). Kaufman, Paul, 'Discovering the Oldest Publick Bibliotheck in the Northern Isles', Library Review 23, no. 7 (1972), 285-7. Tinch, David M. N. (ed.), The Orkney Library 1683-1983: A Short History (Kirkwall: Kirkwall Press, 1983). AU MS 1087: The Kirkwall Bibliotheck, 1638-1891, with related material. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Shortly before his death in 1683, William Baikie, (MA, University of Edinburgh, 1657), proprietor of the estate of Holland on Stronsay, Orkney, bequeathed his books and manuscripts to the minister of Kirkwall, and his successors, 'for a Publick Liberarie to be keeped within the town'. Many rare volumes of a religious nature were added by James Wallace (MA, King’s college, 1659), who was a minister of St. Magnus Cathedral. At first the Kirk Session held the Bibliotheck as a Presbytery Library in St Magnus Cathedral where it continued to attract donations from both church and laymen. By 1740 it had been moved to the assembly room of the Tolbooth. The Collection was then incorporated into the Orkney Subscription Library in 1815, but, on the adoption of the Free Libraries Act by the Burgh of Kirkwall in 1890, the books were offered for public auction. They were bought up by Archdeacon James B. Craven of Orkney who produced a catalogue of them, and gave them to Aberdeen University Library in 1914. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Biesenthal Collection |
| Description |
William Robertson Smith (Professor of New Testament Exegesis, Free Church College, Aberdeen), whilst on a visit to the University of Göttingen in 1872, made arrangements necessary for the Collection of Dr Biesenthal to come to Aberdeen. Writing around this time, Professor Roberston Smith said of the Collection: ‘Among other matters transacted in Leipzig[,] I paid a visit to Dr. Biesenthal, a noted Rabbinist who is anxious to sell his Collection of Hebrew books. If we could get hold of them for Aberdeen we should have one of the finest Rabbinical Collection in Great Britain…” The Collection was duly bought and became a part of the library of the Free Church College. In 1968 the Biesenthal Collection was deposited at King’s College Library, on permanent loan to the University of Aberdeen. While books written in Hebrew cover around a third of the Collection, there are also many other volumes written in many European and Near Eastern languages. |
| Keywords |
Judaica; Hebraica. |
| Strengths |
Almost one third of the 2140 volumes are in Hebrew and 'represent a comprehensive selection of all that was published in Hebrew practically from the time of the invention of printing to the time of the sale of Dr Biesenthal's library'. The Collection is a source of much Biblical, Church history and linguistics material in many European and Near Eastern languages: Dutch, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Yiddish; Arabic, Chaldee, Ethiopic and Syriac. The oldest volume is an edition of Moses ben Nahman’s commentary on the Pentateuch, published at Pesaro in 1513, while four books, all dated 1871, must jointly be considered the youngest. |
| Languages |
Hebrew, Dutch, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Yiddish; Arabic, Chaldee, Ethiopic and Syriac. |
| Identifier |
Bies |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 2140 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1820s-1872 |
| Contents date
range |
1513-1871 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Beattie, D. R. G., 'Dr Biesenthal and the Biesenthal Collection', Aberdeen University Review 45 (1973-74), 275-80. Beattie, D. R. G, A Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in the Biesenthal Collection (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Library, 1979). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Collection was acquired for the Free Church College (now Christ's College) in Aberdeen, but its highly specialised nature meant that it would not normally be used by divinity students in the course of their studies. Therefore, in 1968 the Collection was deposited in Aberdeen University Library on permanent loan. Biesenthal (1804-1886) was by birth a Jew named Raphael Hirsch and was born in Poznan in 1804. It was intended that he become a Rabbi but he subsequently adopted the Christian faith and changed his name at the same time. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Boyndlie Collection |
| Description |
The Forbes (later Ogilvie-Forbes) family of Boyndlie were the original possessors of the Collection. Through the good offices of a local librarian, the Collection was transferred to Aberdeen University Library and is now housed in Special Libraries and Archives. |
| Keywords |
Theology; history; literature (English and Scottish); philosophy; politics. |
| Strengths |
The Collection contains many works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though there are a number of examples of English printing from the early sixteenth century. There is a large amount of material in the French language. There is also a large Collection of volumes of local interest. |
| Languages |
English, Latin, French |
| Identifier |
Boyndlie |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 2000 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
? |
| Contents date
range |
fifteenth century -1950s |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
An abandoned library which was rescued through the good offices of a local librarian during the mid 1990s. The library has now been deposited at Aberdeen University Library. Many volumes carry a nineteenth-century bookplate of John Forbes of Boyndlie. Some seventeenth-century texts carry earlier family signatures. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Brown-Lindsay Collection |
| Description |
The Collection encompasses 300 years of the history of the dissenting Presbyterian Churches but also includes unusual rarities reflecting wider religious issues. Dating from the 17th through to the 19th centuries, they are predominantly Presbyterian and there is an inevitable anti-Catholic and anti-Episcopalian tone throughout the collection. Many of the rare, early pamphlets relate to the early dissent from the established church and the formation of the Secession Church. Other, 17th century works are concerned with the religious questions of monarchy, church and state brought about by the English Civil War and, later, the union of 1707. Many of the 18th century works concentrate on the wider implications for the churches brought about by the questions of philosophy and religion, events such as the French Revolution and greater religious toleration. The 19th century pamphlets, which comprise the greater part of the collection, focus much on the events leading up to the disruption of 1843 and the formation of the United Presbyterian Church in 1847, particularly the church patronage question and the voluntary churches controversy. For any church historian interested in this particular period this Collection is an invaluable resource. |
| Keywords |
Theology; history; politics; Church of Scotland; Free Church of Scotland; United Presbyterian Church. |
| Strengths |
The main strength of the Collection lies in the fact that the various pamphlets over a 300 year period tell the often complicated history of the various dissenting Presbyterian Churches. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
Brown-Lindsay |
| Physical characteristics |
3650 items; 720 volumes and c. 2930 pamphlets. |
| Accumulation
date range |
pre-1900 |
| Contents date
range |
1795-1843 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Brown-Lindsay pamphlet volumes are that portion of the United Presbyterian College Library, Edinburgh, that came to the Free Church College in Aberdeen (now Christ's College), when that Library was dispersed amongst the three Free Church Colleges following union in 1900, and so relate to other portions now in Trinity College, Glasgow, and New College, Edinburgh. Following the formation of the United Presbyterian Church in 1847, the Rev. John Brown, DD (1784-1858) and the Rev. William Lindsay, DD (1802-1866) were among the founding members of the College and its first two professors of Exegetical Theology. The pamphlets that belonged to them, and formed part of their library, reflect their own interests and those of their time, but also contain a range of subject matter which mark them as theologians with a knowledge of much wider religious questions and their implications. The older part of Christ's College Library was deposited in Aberdeen University Library in 1986. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Cairngorm Club Collection |
| Description |
The Victorian era heralded the new sport of climbing and 1887 saw the foundation of the Cairngorm Club. Publications on all aspects of the new popular sport were soon rolling off the press and the Club quickly established a Library for its members. Since 1993 the Collection has been housed in Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen. In addition to the Library, the archives of the Cairngorm Club were also deposited. As would be expected, the Collection concentrates on all aspects of mountaineering with special relevance to Scotland. The Club has also issued its own journal, The Cairngorm Club Journal, since 1893 which is full of articles on all aspects of mountaineering as well as more general subjects. |
| Keywords |
Mountaineering; rock-climbing; geology; Cairngorm Mountains. |
| Strengths |
Although much of the stock dates from the last twenty years or so, the Library does hold some important 19th century topographical books, as with George Robson's Scenery of the Grampian Mountains (London, 1814), and John Bristed's Pedestrian Tour through Part of the Highlands of Scotland (London: Wallis, 1803). An early treasure is a copy of Taylor & Skinner's Survey and Maps of the Roads of North Britain or Scotland (London: D. Wilson & G. Nicol, 1776). Late Victorian and Edwardian mountaineering texts are well represented, and include many prepared by Edward Whymper. The periodical runs include Die Alpen, L'Echo des Alpes, the American Alpine Journal and the Canadian Alpine Journal. The guides and serial publications of the Scottish Mountaineering Club are also present, as are several sequences of the Cairngorm Club Journal itself. |
| Languages |
English, French |
| Identifier |
Cairngorm Club |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1150 volumes and over 40 periodical runs. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1887-present |
| Contents date
range |
1776-present |
| Associated publication(s) |
For the Club's latest catalogue, see 'The Cairngorm Club Library', Cairngorm Club Journal, 20 (1996), 252-78. Weir, Tom, ‘100 Hundred Years on the Hills’, Scots Magazine, 128, (December 1987), 293-298. Murray, Sheila, The Cairngorm Club, 1887-1987 (Aberdeen: Cairngorm Club, c. 1987). AU MS 3405: Records of Cairngorm Club, 1890-1972. Information is also available about the activities of the Cairngorm Club on the WWW. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Partial. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Library of the Cairngorm Club was deposited with Aberdeen University in 1993. Consisting of around 750 volumes and over 40 periodical runs, the Library is still added to by purchases made by, and gifts made to, the Club. |
| Access control
|
Open; but closed access (for earlier material). Only members of the Cairngorm Club may borrow from this Collection. Books within the Collection may be consulted by all bona fide readers. |
| Collection
title |
Chapman Collection |
| Description |
First and limited editions of works by leading members of the British literary scene (largely of the first half of the twentieth century form this Collection. John Bisset Chapman (1875-1949), a graduate of Aberdeen, formed many friendships within the circles of the London literary scene and collected much of the literay output of his friends and acquaintances. |
| Keywords |
Literature (twentieth-century) |
| Strengths |
The Collection contains first and special editions of literary authors mainly from 1900-1930 including H. E. Bates, Edmund Blunden, A. E. Coppard, Walter de la Mare, James Hanley, Aldous Huxley, C. E. Montague, and J. C. Powys. Many of the books are signed or inscribed by the authors. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
CH |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1100 books |
| Accumulation
date range |
1900-1990 |
| Contents date
range |
1884-1949 |
| Associated publication(s) |
AU MS 2265: Correspondence of J.B. Chapman (1875-1949), writer . Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. Additions continued to be made to this Collection to 1990, with emphasis on works by E. Blunden, A. E. Coppard, James Hanley, Walter De La Mare, Aldous Huxley and C. E. Montague. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The nucleus of this Collection, which contains about 1000 books, was acquired in 1963 from the widow of John Bisset Chapman (MA, Aberdeen, 1897), who spent most of his career in Lambeth, as HM Inspector of Schools. His circle of friends encompassed the leading British literary figures of the first three decades of the twentieth century. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Diocesan Library |
| Description |
The Collection predominantly relates to the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland and their often troubled relationship, though there are some titles on subjects of professional interest, such as elocution, and of wider concern, covering history and politics. Uniquely, it has a very extensive collection of Scottish Communion Offices. |
| Keywords |
Scottish Episcopal Church; Church of Scotland; sermons; liturgies. |
| Strengths |
The Collection is very strong in theological material, mostly of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and is particularly rich in material relating to the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland. The Church of England is also well represented by many sermons, liturgies, Offices and Books of Common Prayer. Roman Catholic material includes liturgies, missals and notably a sixteenth-century Missale Romanum printed in Paris in 1565. There is a wealth of local material, theological as well as non-theological. For example, there are plenty printed sermons (mainly dating from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries) which were preached in local parishes. Several of the volumes were previously in the libraries of notable Scotsmen, whose autographs they bear. |
| Languages |
English, Greek, French, Dutch, Gaelic, Spanish. |
| Identifier |
DL |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 2500 books and 3000 pamphlets |
| Accumulation
date range |
The range of dates which the collection was accumulated |
| Contents date
range |
1520-1851 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Scottish Episcopal Church, Catalogue of the Aberdeen Diocesan Library (Aberdeen: n.pub., 1821). Scottish Episcopal Church, Catalogue of the Aberdeen Diocesan Library (Aberdeen: Bennett, 1871). Scottish Episcopal Church, Aberdeen Diocesan Library: Catalogue, 1889 (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1889). ‘Books from the “Aberdeen Diocesan Library”’, Aberdeen Journal Notes and Queries, 3 (1910), 37-38. Jennifer Kinnear, 'The Diocesan Library', Northern Scotland 19 (1999), 115-18. AU MS 602: Correspondence relating to the transfer of the Diocesan Library to the University of Aberdeen. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
This Collection was deposited in the University Library by the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney in 1926. Initial agreement had been reached in 1911, between the Library and the Diocesan Librarian, F. C. Eeles, a key figure in implementing the donation, who enhanced the collection by adding many of his own books. In addition much material was donated by J. B. Craven, Archdeacon of Orkney (DD 1908, Aberdeen), who is also strongly connected with the Bibliotheck of Kirkwall, which Collection is also housed within Historic Collections. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
FL Collection |
| Description |
This Collection is a remnant of the pressmark system (Fixed Location) previously used to arrange books within the university libraries before the introduction of subject classification which is now standard within Aberdeen University Library. The main thrust of the Collection lies in its medical and scientific holdings, dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Collection has proved valuable for research on aspects of the history of medicine. |
| Keywords |
Medicine; phrenology; natural history. |
| Strengths |
Mainly medical and scientific holdings. Standard texts of the time appear with many familiar titles and authors. There are strong holdings of French, Italian and especially Latin medical textbooks. |
| Languages |
English, Latin, French, Italian, German |
| Identifier |
FL |
| Physical characteristics |
1048 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
Up to 1920s |
| Contents date
range |
c.1604-c. 1839 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The provenance of many of the volumes is interesting. Many were bequeathed to the University Library in 1782 by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-1792), a former Tory Prime Minister, and also by former eminent graduates of Marischal College, including Sir William Fordyce (1724-1792) (MA, Marischal College, 1742), physician and author, who became Lord Rector of Marischal College in 1790 who gifted many French and Latin medical texts. Sir John Forbes (1787-1861), who studied the Arts at Marischal College from 1803 and 1806 eventually gained his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1817. In 1859 he gifted many Latin and Italian medical texts. The Collection is complimented by other named collections which have a strong medical content such as the Gregory Collection. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Gregory Collection |
| Description |
Based upon the library of John Gregory (1724-73), (MD, King’s College, 1746), FRS, Mediciner at King's College, and later Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University (1769-1773), this Collection was subsequently added to by other members of the family. It is said that over a period of five generations, the family produced some fourteen professors, who distinguished themselves in the fields of mathematics or medicine. |
| Keywords |
Medicine; natural history, astronomy; chemistry; physics; history; religion; philosophy; literature; geography; archaeology. |
| Strengths |
The books date from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, and are largely on scientific and medical subjects including works by such well-known teachers as Bartholin, Boerhaave (1668-1730), Monro II and Willis. The remainder is of a more general nature, mainly in the fields of philosophy, religion, literature and history. John Gregory was an active member of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society (founded in 1758), and as therefore might be expected, published writings of his colleagues from the group are also found in the Collection. The Collection is remarkably extensive and comprehensive, and is particularly rich in seventeenthg- and eighteenth-century works. The scientific books in particular represent an exceptionally good collection, covering most subjects very thoroughly, with many of the standard scientific works of the period included. |
| Languages |
English, Latin, French, German |
| Identifier |
GY |
| Physical characteristics |
The 'Catalogue of Dr James Gregorie his books, 1713' survives, listing some 150 titles, though the whole Collection comprises some 2100 books. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1650s-1821 |
| Contents date
range |
1535 - early-twentieth century |
| Associated publication(s) |
Anderson, P. J., ‘The Gregories’, The Deeside Field, 2 (1925), 48-53. Lawrence, P. D., The Gregory Family: a Biographical and Bibliographical Study to which is annexed a Bibliography of the Scientific and Medical books in the Gregory Library, Aberdeen University Library, 2 vols & index (unpublished PhD thesis, Aberdeen University, 1971) . Lawrence P. D., 'James Gregorie (1674-1733), his Life and his Books', Royal Society of Edinburgh Occasional Papers, 1 (1980), 1-35. McCullough, Laurence B., John Gregory and the Invention of Professional Medical Ethics and the Profession of Medicine (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1998). AU MS 995: Papers relating to history and genealogy of Gregory family, Aberdeenshire. AU MS 2206/1-49: Papers of Gregory family, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews, 1582-1912. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
At some time the Gregory Library, probably through family connections, came into the possession of the Forbes-Leith family of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire. The Collection was presented to the University of Aberdeen in 1938 by Sir Ian Forbes-Leith of Fyvie. It is based round the library of John Gregory, MD, FRS (1724-73), Mediciner at King's College, and later Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University, which itself incorporated that of James Gregory (1674-1733), and has been added to by various members of the family, distinguished for generations especially in medicine and mathematics. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Henderson Collection |
| Description |
Foreign language books (mainly Italian and German) feature significantly in this Collection. Alexander Henderson of Caskieben bequeathed his private library to Marischal College in 1851. He travelled widely in Europe especially in Italy and Germany and thus many of the volumes originate from both these countries. The Collection is well served by volumes on such diverse subjects as history, travel, science, viticulure and medicine. |
| Keywords |
History; topographical works; science; viticultre; medicine. |
| Strengths |
History, travel and scientific subjects are well represented. There is also a section on viticulture. Henderson was renowned for his knowledge of wine, and for a considerable period his book, The History of Ancient and Modern Wines (London, 1824), with a German translation of 1833, remained the standard work. There are also about sixty Edinburgh medical theses dating between 1801-03. |
| Languages |
English, Italian, French, German, Latin |
| Identifier |
HN |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 3000 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
c. 1794-c. 1850 |
| Contents date
range |
1601-1863 |
| Associated publication(s) |
A brief memoir of Henderson appears in W. M. Ramsay, Descriptive Notes on the Classical Vases in the Henderson Collection, Marischal College (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1881), 5-8. For a transcript of the documents relating to Dr Henderson’s benefactions see P. J. Anderson’s Fasti Academiae Mariscallanae Aberdonensis...1593-1860 (Aberdeen: New Spalding Club, 1889-98), I, pp. 529-33. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Alexander Henderson of Caskieben (alumnus of Marischal College, 1794-98; MD, Edinburgh, 1803), as a medical practitioner in London, was able to indulge his keen interest in literature and art, building up a library of some 3000 volumes including some rare medical works and much foreign language material, dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Earlier in life he attended the Universities of Leipzig and Göttingen giving him a taste for travel (especially Italy and Germany) and languages. Dr. Henderson bequeathed his library to Marischal College in 1851. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Herald Collection |
| Description |
This Collection of pamphlets dates mostly from the nineteenth century, and covers a wide range of subjects, though political issues figure prominently. The Collection was built up over the years 1832 - 72 by the Aberdeen Herald newspaper office, and transferred to the University Library around 1874. It was subsequently supplemented from other sources up to the 1920s. The Collection was built up around the same time as both the King and Thomson Collections, which it complements. |
| Keywords |
History, politics, North-East Scotland. |
| Strengths |
Very many of the pamphlets in this Collection have emanated from local presses. A large number cover political debates (local, regional and national). |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
Herald |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 3540 pamphlets in 173 bound volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1832-1872 |
| Contents date
range |
Mainly nineteenth century |
| Associated publication(s) |
Aberdeen University Library, Catalogue of Pamphlets in the King, the Thomson and the Herald Collections, (Aberdeen University Studies 104) (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University, 1927). Anderson-Smith, M., 'Local Pamphlets', Northern Scotland 17 (1997), 129-33. AU MS 2769/I/59/1-2 Records of Aberdeen Herald, 1833-77. MS 2769/II/9/1-5 Records of Aberdeen Herald, 1833-77. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Based on a Collection belonging to the Herald newspaper office (1832-72) supplemented by volumes of pamphlets donated subsequently. Vols. 155-60 are “Ex libris Gul. D. Geddes Equitis”; vols. 170-1 were presented by Prof. Hay in 1927; vol. 172 was purchased in 1928; vol. 173 was presented by Wm. Kelly, LLD in 1928. How they came to the University is not known but it would appear that they were deposited fairly shortly after the demise of the Herald newspaper in 1877. The Aberdeen Herald presented the University Library with a complete run of the newspaper (from the 1st of September, 1832, to the 29th of April, 1876) on the 21st of August, 1877, and, therefore, it would seem probable that the pamphlets may have been deposited then, although there is no mention of this in the extant correspondence. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Hilary Jenkinson Pamphlet Collection |
| Description |
This Collection bequeathed to the University by Sir (Charles) Hilary Jenkinson (1882-1961) in 1961. As an eminent palaeographer, diplomatist and Keeper of Public Records, he formed a large library consisting of items connected with his professional career.His private papers are also in Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen. |
| Keywords |
Archives; palaeography; bibliography. |
| Strengths |
Pamphlets on archival studies, palaeography and history, many containing autograph letters of their authors. |
| Languages |
English, French, German, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Italian, Spanish |
| Identifier |
pHJ |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 550 pamphlets. The 500 books of his working library, were, in accordance with the donors specifications, dispersed, after listing, in the general library stock. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1908-1960 |
| Contents date
range |
1908-1960 |
| Associated publication(s) |
For an appreciation of his life and career and a list of his publications see the Times obituary of March 7th, 1961 and Who Was Who 1961-70. Anderson-Smith, M., 'The Special Collections in Aberdeen University Library', Aberdeen University Review, 171 (Spring 1984), 265-87, esp 280. AU MS 2786 Correspondence of Sir Hilary Jenkinson (1882-1961), archivist. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Subsequent to his being honoured with the degree of LLD by the University of Aberdeen in 1949, the eminent palaeographer, diplomatist, and keeper of Public Records, Sir Hilary Jenkinson, bequeathed to the Library in 1961 'all books and pamphlets in his library presented to him by, or containing autograph letters of, their authors'. The bequest comprised over 570 pamphlets mainly on archives, archival studies, history and palaeography. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
J. Murdoch Henderson Collection |
| Description |
Music forms the core of this Collection. Originally bequeathed to the National Library of Scotland in 1975/6, duplicates of items already in stock came to the University of Aberdeen and helped create this Collection. Composers represented range from Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) to Joshua Campbell (fl. 1762). Famous Scottish composers feature strongly as with Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), son of Neil Gow (1727-1807), Robert Mackintosh (1745-1807), and J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927). J. M. Henderson was an authority on Scottish fiddle music and wrote Flowers of Scottish Melody: A First Companion to the Scottish Violinist and Pianist (Glasgow: Bayley & Ferguson, 1935). |
| Keywords |
Music; Scottish balladry and song. |
| Strengths |
Music from the Highlands, mainly for the fiddle and some for the bagpipe are well represented in the Collection. Famous Scottish composers for the fiddle form a core of the musical volumes. Scots song, particularly those from the Jacobite era, feature strongly in the vocal arrangement of the Collection. |
| Languages |
English, Scots, Gaelic |
| Identifier |
Hend inst; Hend voc (instrumental and vocal) |
| Physical characteristics |
120 items |
| Accumulation
date range |
1908-1960 |
| Contents date
range |
1780-1935 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
J. Murdoch Henderson bequeathed his library of musical books to the National Library of Scotland in 1975/6. Duplicates of items already in stock were later transferred to the University of Library to form the Collection. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Juvenile Collection |
| Description |
Children's literature of the nineteenth century forms the basis of this Collection. Many leading writers of juvenile literature are represented, including: Maria Edgeworth, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Kate Greenaway, Mary and William Howitt, Andrew Lang, George MacDonald, Mary Louisa Molesworth, Rev. Isaac Taylor, Sarah Trimmer, Charlotte Mary Yonge. |
| Keywords |
Literature (English - Victorian); Literature (children's) |
| Strengths |
The core of the Collection is Victorian authors who specialised in writing for children. The leading authors of their day are well represented. |
| Languages |
English; French, Italian; some German. |
| Identifier |
J |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 400 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1880s-1974 |
| Contents date
range |
1687-1974 |
| Associated publication(s) |
For obituary notice of A. A. Jack see Aberdeen University Review, 31 (1944-46), 295-96. The article by Stuart hannabuss, 'A Cultural Resource: Early Children's Literature and itsContext', Northern Scotland, 15 (1995), pp. 135-50 is based largely on the Juvenile Collection. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Partial |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The bulk of the Collection was gifted by Emeritus Professor A. A. Jack (1869-1946) in 1953. Jack was the Chalmers Professor of English Literature from 1915-1938. A further 50 volumes were received as a gift from Mr. H. C. Brooks in 1974. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Keith Collection |
| Description |
A journalist and prolific writer as well as a farmer, Alexander Keith (1895-1978) accumulated a large and diverse library throughout this lifetime. He graduated with an MA from the University of Aberdeen in English in 1916 after which, in 1917, he joined the editorial staff of Aberdeen Daily Journal and The Press and Journal until 1944. A flare for language as well as his journalistic training soon saw results and among his most prominent publications are A Thousand Years of Aberdeen, Eminent Aberdonians, and The Aberdeen-Angus Breed: A History. In 1943 he bought a farm at Eigie and became the Secretary to the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society. He held this post until 1955. In recognition of his contribution to the literature of the North-east he was awarded an LLD in 1967 by the University. He has been described as ‘the universal man of the North-east’, a fitting epithet for someone who loved the culture of the North-east. |
| Keywords |
History; politics; literature (European, also detective fiction); folklore, balladry; agriculture, art. |
| Strengths |
The Collection covers a wide range of subjects and has strengths in Scottish political, military and ecclesiastical history; nineteenth- and twentieth-century English literature with a substantial collection of detective fiction; European literature, mainly nineteenth-century French and Russian novels; folklore and ballads; printing; agriculture (cattle rearing); art; gardening and banking. |
| Languages |
English, French |
| Identifier |
Keith |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 4000 books |
| Accumulation
date range |
1910-1970s |
| Contents date
range |
1770-1970 |
| Associated publication(s) |
For obituary notice see Aberdeen University Review XLVIII (1979), 103. Watt, Harold, ‘Alexander Keith: A Bibliography’, Aberdeen University Review XLVIII (1979), 61-67. Bryce, I. B. D. & Graham C., ‘Alexander Keith: A Valediction’, The Leopard vol. 44 (November, 1978), 23-25. Johnston, D. B., ‘The Letters and Papers of Dr. Alexander J. Keith, AUL MS 3017’, Northern Scotland 4 (1981), 127-. Gordon, D. G., ‘Alexander Keith, M.A., LL.D.’ (ed.) Archie W. M. Whitely, Bennachie Again (n.p.: Bailies of Bennachie, 1983), 182-86. AU MS 3017/1-14 Papers of Alexander Keith (1895-1978), author. |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Amassed by Alexander Keith (1895-1973) throughout his lifetime, the Collection was gifted to the University of Aberdeen, his alma mater. Items of a local nature have been added to the Local Collection. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
King |
| Description |
Comprising some 405 volumes of pamphlets bequeathed originally to the Belmont Street Congregational Church, Aberdeen, by George King (1797-1872), a local bookseller and printer, the Collection covers a wide range of subjects. Strong in theological and local literature and with some unique items, making it an extremely useful primary research tool for North-east studies between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The Collection was built up around the same time as both the Herald, and Thomson Collections, which it complements. |
| Keywords |
Theology; Free Church of Scotland; Church of Scotland; politics; history; North-East Scotland. |
| Strengths |
The Collection is strong in theological literature and local literature, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.Many of the texts are locally printed, and include four notices from Edward Raban's press: Solemn League and Convenant (1643) and three Proclamations (1644). |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
King |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 4145 pamphlets bound in 405 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1826-1870s |
| Contents date
range |
1643-nineteenth century |
| Associated publication(s) |
Catalogue of Books in the Select Library of Belmont Street Congregational Church: The Gift of Mr. George King, F.S.A. Scot., formerly Bookseller in Aberdeen (Aberdeen: Murray, 1876). Bulloch J. Malcolm, ‘King’s Pamphlet Library, Aberdeen’, Scottish Notes and Queries vol. II, 2nd series (June, 1888), 2-3, reprinted as Appendix C in J. M. Bulloch (1898), 169-171. Bulloch, J. M., Centenary Memorials of the First Congregational Church in Aberdeen (Aberdeen: Murray, 1898). Aberdeen University Library, Catalogue of Pamphlets in the King, the Thomson and the Herald Collections (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University, 1927). Anderson-Smith, M., 'Local Pamphlets', Northern Scotland 17 (1997), 129-33. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The pamphlets were collected by George King (1797-1872), bookseller in Aberdeen. Starting his career in the book trade in 1826 gave King an opportunity to indulge his various collecting interests in history and ecclesiastical matters. They were originally intended for the library of the Free Church College, but the bequest of a similar collection to that library by Alexander Thomson of Banchory, forestalled his intention, and thus he left the Collection to his own church, the Belmont Street Congregational Church. The Collection remained with the Church from 1872 until it was transferred to the University Library in 1905. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Lambda Collection |
| Description |
The output of North-east authors (whether native or adopted) form this Collection. Gathered together here is the representative literature of the North-east of Scotland, and the writings of such notable figures as Alexander Bain, James Beattie, J. M. Bulloch, John Stuart Blackie and Eric Linklater are well represented. In addition, there is a large number of pamphlets (around 4800) which cover a vast array of subjects from public health through to student societies at the University of Aberdeen. |
| Keywords |
Literature (North-East Scotland); North-East Scotland; history; archaeology; religion; politics; geology; geography; economics; bibliography; natural history; biography; law; art. |
| Strengths |
The writings of such notable figures as Alexander Bain, James Beattie, J. M. Bulloch, John Stuart Blackie and Eric Linklater are well represented. The pamphlet section of around 4800 volumes covers a diverse and wide subject area. |
| Languages |
English, Doric, German |
| Identifier |
Lambda |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1620 volumes; additionally around 4800 pamplets |
| Accumulation
date range |
1826-1870s |
| Contents date
range |
Mainly nineteenth and twentieth century |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
This nineteenth- and twentieth-century collection contains c.1620 books and over 4800 pamphlets by authors with regional connections, or else contain material relating to the local area. The writings of such notable figures as Alexander Bain, James Beattie, J. M. Bulloch, John Stuart Blackie and Eric Linklater are well represented. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Local Collection |
| Description |
Developed since the 1970s, the Local Collection is one of the most widely used within Special Libraries and Archives. This Collection geographically covers the North-east of Scotland (i.e. the 'old' counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine, Moray and Nairn). The Collection represents an unparalleled basis for research on locally and regionally based projects, dissertations and theses. |
| Keywords |
North-East Scotland; history; archaeology; religion; politics; geology; geography; economics; bibliography; natural history; law; education; University of Aberdeen; language; literature; art. |
| Strengths |
Covering most aspects of life in the City of Aberdeen and the former counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine, Moray and Nairn, the Collection’s particular strength lies in historical material, including statistical accounts, directories, valuation rolls, local literature, local printing, and the development of the University of Aberdeen. In addition, particular attention should be paid to the valuable holdings of the Aberdeen Almanack (1754, 1773-1952) and the Aberdeen Directory (1824-). Newspaper holdings are strong and include the Aberdeen Journal and subsequent amalgamations, now as the Press and Journal, 1747/48-to date; the Aberdeen Herald, 1832-1876; the Banffshire Journal, 1904-; the Buchan Observer, 1863-191; the Elgin Courant, 1913-1930; the Huntly Express, 1914-1930; the Northern Chronicle (Inverness), 1914-1940; the Northern Scot, 1897-; the Orcadian, 1913-1930. |
| Languages |
English, Scots (Doric), Latin (older texts) |
| Identifier |
L |
| Physical characteristics |
Over 6200 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
c. 1975-present |
| Contents date
range |
1722-present |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active |
| Custodial history/provenance |
It was not until the mid 1970s that the decision was taken to establish the Local Collection, to give it its own classification system. There were many publications already in the Library which were used to set up this ever expanding collection of local material. The Local Collection is also supplemented by the O’ Dell Collection of railway material, with sections on the railways of the North-east and on local railway companies; the Simpson Collection of castellated architecture; the Thomson, Herald, and King Collections, which are rich in social, economic and religious history; the Lambda Collection of local authors; the Lib R Collection with topographical material; the MacBean Collection and the various archival collections, including those of the University of Aberdeen itself. |
| Access control
|
Open access, borrowable with some reference. |
| Collection
title |
London Missionary Society Lending Library, Edinburgh |
| Description |
This Collection was 'established for the benefit of the Churches, in the hope that they may have an increasing understanding to the enterprise to which they are called, and a deepening sense of the responsibility and honour of extending Christ’s kingdom over the whole earth', according to W. G. Allan, in his introduction to the catalogue of the library. The original purpose of the Collection was to provide 'sources of knowledge of the outside world most widely accessible to friends of missions'. |
| Keywords |
Missionary work; topographical works; biography. |
| Strengths |
The Collection comprises not only works on missionary organisation and some devotional literature, but consist for the most part of largely nineteenth-century first-hand accounts by missionaries themselves of their work and general observations in Africa, China, India, Madagascar and the South Seas. Many of the missionaries being pioneers, their writings should be of interest also to historians, geographers and sociologists. |
| Languages |
English, little French |
| Identifier |
LMS |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 300 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
Nineteenth and twentieth centuries |
| Contents date
range |
1795-1962 |
| Associated publication(s) |
London Missionary Society, Catalogue of Lending Library 75 Colinton Road, Edinburgh (Edinburgh: W. Smith Elliot, 1910). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Originally acquired as a resource for student of missions in the (then) Department of Religious Studies, the Collection came to the University Library in 1980. The Collection has been part of the London Missionary Society’s Lending Library, based in Edinburgh. For a long time the library had been housed in the Scottish Congregational College, Edinburgh. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
MacBean Collection |
| Description |
The MacBean Collection, with over 3,500 books and 1,000 pamphlets, plus numerous sermons, official reports and satirical verse, is one of the largest Jacobite Collections in the country and provides invaluable insights into later-seventeenth- and eighteenth-century society in general, and, in particular, the various Jacobite risings. Every aspect of the Jacobite movement is represented both pro and con; contemporary accounts include proclamations by the principal protagonists as well as writings of respective supporters and other observers. |
| Keywords |
Jacobitism; history; politics; religion. |
| Strengths |
The material which dates from the late-seventeenth-century to the present time covers every aspect of the Jacobite rebellions - the causes and effects, the personalities, royal, national and local, historical processes, propaganda, military history and political intrigue. In form they range from official proclamations and reports (Hanoverian and Jacobite), tracts and pamphlets, through contemporary newspaper reports to satirical verse. There are at least 200 sermons bearing on the issue. |
| Languages |
English, French, German, Spanish, Scots Gaelic |
| Identifier |
MacBean |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 3350 books; c. 1000 pamphlets, sermons and magazine articles; c. 1580 loose plates (woodcuts, engravings, etc.); over 100 broadsheets; a few MSS.; and c. 1950 photographs of Scottish places and scenery. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1870s-present |
| Contents date
range |
1680s - present. |
| Associated publication(s) |
Allardyce, M. D., ‘The MacBean Stuart and Jacobite Collection I’, Aberdeen University Review, 15 (1927-28), 207-218; ‘The MacBean Stuart and Jacobite Collection II’, Aberdeen University Review, 16 (1928-29), 31-42. Allardyce, Mabel D. (comp.), Aberdeen University Library MacBean Collection: a catalogue of books, pamphlets, broadsides, portraits, etc., in the Stuart and Jacobite Collection gathered together by W. M. MacBean (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1949). AU MS 979: Memorial to William Munro MacBean (1852-1924), of Saint Andrew's Society, New York State, 1914. Obituary notices of William MacBean appear in Aberdeen University Review, 11 (1924), 191 and The New York Times, 14th of February, 1924.. Anderson, P. J. (?), ‘The William M. MacBean Jacobite Collection’, Aberdeen University Library Bulletin, 4 (1919), 81-90. MacBean also wrote a series of articles which appeared in the Inverness Courier from 21st August, 1903, to 16th January, 1904, entitled ‘A Contribution towards Jacobite Iconography’. Available Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Collection was donated in 1919 by William MacBean (1852-1924) of Yonkers, New York (a native of Nairn), who received the degree of LLD in 1922 in recognition of his benefaction. It is said that MacBean's initial intention was to bequeath his Collection to one of the American Universities but after meeting with Principal Sir George Adam Smith, then lecturing in the United States during the Great War, he fell under the spell of his personality, and offered the Collection instead to the University of Aberdeen. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Marischal Museum Collection |
| Description |
This Collection comprises two libraries, namely, the Anthropology Collection and the Gordon Collection, which latter mainly concerns military history. |
| Keywords |
Military history; anthropology; art; Egyptology; museums; religion. |
| Strengths |
The main strength of the Collection lies in anthropology and in military history. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
MM |
| Physical characteristics |
The Collection consists of printed contemporary books from the Jacobite period along with modern-day monographs. There are also contemporary pamphlets along with rare broadsheets. Some manuscript material is contained in the collection also. It contains approximately 3350 books; 1000 pamphlets, sermons and magazine articles; 1580 loose plates (woodcuts, engravings, etc.); over 100 broadsheets; a few MSS.; and about 1950 photographs of Scottish places and scenery. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1870s-present |
| Contents date
range |
1688?present |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
A free text statement of accrual policy, accrual method and accrual periodicity of the collection, i.e. closed, active, partial/selective |
| Custodial history/provenance |
A free text statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the collection for its authenticity, integrity and interpretation. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Meldrum House Collection |
| Description |
This Collection is a good, representative example of the type of library that was accommodated in a large local country house. There are around 1960 volumes covering such diverse subjects as history, literature, philosophy, religion, science and law ranging through the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries. |
| Keywords |
Classical literature; philosophy; religion; science; law. |
| Strengths |
Eighteenth-century concerns over estate management are represented, with such titles as Edward Laurence's Duty and Office of the Land Steward 2nd ed. (London: Knapton, 1731); and for the women, who at Meldrum may have felt rather isolated from the outside world, there was a subscription to the Lady's Magazine. |
| Languages |
English, German, French, Greek, Latin |
| Identifier |
MH |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1960 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1700s-1830s |
| Contents date
range |
1672-1833 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Meldrum House Library, a sale catalogue prepared by J. F. Kellas Johnstone, was printed, c.1924. Research into the development of the library is greatly assisted by the large amount of background material in the Duff of Hatton family and estate papers, MS 2778. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Presented to Aberdeen University in 1950, by Sir Garden Duff of Hatton and Meldrum, this Collection has been kept together as a good example of the type of library built up over the centuries in a large local country house. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Melvin Collection |
| Description |
Dr James Melvin (1795-1853) amassed a fine library of Latin classical writers, and works relating to Latin language and literature. Born in Aberdeen, he entered Aberdeen Grammar School and then attended Marischal College as first bursar and graduated MA in 1813. After graduation he entered the teaching profession and became a master in his former school. In 1826 he became Rector, a post which he held until his death in 1853. In 1839, and again in 1852, he unsuccessfully applied for the professorship in Latin at Marischal College. Despite this unrealised ambition, Melvin was regarded as one of the greatest Latin scholars of his day, and was the author of a Latin Grammar which remained in print for many years. |
| Keywords |
Classical literature; classical languages; history; theology; philosophy; science. |
| Strengths |
The Collection is rich in editions of Latin and Greek classical writers, and works relating to Latin language and culture. Additionally, there is a substantial collection of works on Scottish history and literature, and of theological and philosophical works of the Reformation and Pre-Reformation. Medieval Latin literature is also well represented. There are also several important scientific works. |
| Languages |
English, Latin, Greek |
| Identifier |
MN |
| Physical characteristics |
Just under 7000 volumes of books |
| Accumulation
date range |
c. 1815-1884 |
| Contents date
range |
Fifteenth century to c. 1850. |
| Associated publication(s) |
Clark, Alexander, Proposed Memorial to Senatus of Aberdeen University from former pupils of Dr Melvin and others desirous of maintaining the Melvinian basis of Latin scholarship (Aberdeen: n.pub, 1888). Geddes, W.D., The Melvin Memorial Window in the University Library (Aberdeen: n.pub., 1888). ‘The Late Dr. Melvin–centenary dinner.’, Aberdeen Journal (16th June, 1894). Walker, J., ‘Dr. Melvin’s Memory: [an offprint of a letter to the Aberdeen Journal]. By Melvin Abroad’ (1894). Masson, David, ‘Dead Men Whom I Have Known; or, Recollection of Three Cities. The Aberdeen Grammar School – Dr. James Melvin’, MacMillan’s Magazine, 9 (January 1864), 225-39. Masson, David, James Melvin, Rector of the Grammar School of Aberdeen: A Sketch, (ed.) P. J. Anderson (Aberdeen: Wyllie, 1895). Simpson, H. F. Morland (ed.), Bon Accord: Records and Reminiscences of Aberdeen Grammar School from the Earliest Times by Many Writers (Aberdeen: Wyllie, 1906). An obituary notice appears in the Gentleman’s Magazine, n.s. 40 (1853), 318. See also entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The books belonged to the private library of Dr James Melvin, (1795-1853) (MA Marischal College, 1813; LLD, 1834), Rector of Aberdeen Grammar School (1826-53) and were presented to Marischal College, his alma mater in 1856, by his sister Miss Agnes Melvin. The Collection was further added to by Francis Edmond, LLD, of Kingswells in 1884. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
O’ Dell Collection |
| Description |
Ranking as one of the major railway Collections in Britain, this Collection is the legacy of a lifelong study of transport, especially railways, by Andrew C. O’ Dell (1909-66), first Professor of Geography in the University of Aberdeen. The Collection includes all aspects of transport with an emphasis on the North and North-east of Scotland, particularly the history of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company (1854-1922). The resource potential, especially for those interested in the North-east of Scotland, for geographers, economists and social historians is significant. |
| Keywords |
Transportation; railways; economics; law. |
| Strengths |
The Collection is particularly relevant to railway transport in the North of Scotland, and offers a wide range of ephemera, maps, timetables, guide books for the many railway companies that operated in Scotland and in Britian (as well as in Europe and world-wide). Also there are small sequences of works on inland waterways, sea transport, road and aviation. Some of the highlights include: an unbroken run of Bradshaw’s Railway Manual (1858-1923); a full run of the Railway Magazine from 1897 onwards; plans and maps of Scottish railway routes which date from the 1850s to the 1900s; 128 scrapbook volumes compiled by Professor O’ Dell which contain much material of local interest (seven quarto and seven folio volumes concern the GNSR itself), as well as newspaper cuttings, magazine articles, pamphlets and ephemera relating to other British and foreign railways. |
| Languages |
English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Norwegian |
| Identifier |
O’ Dell |
| Physical characteristics |
Over 10000 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1920s-present |
| Contents date
range |
1830s-present |
| Associated publication(s) |
Forrest, Vivienne, ‘Railway Times’, Leopard (July 1990), 28-29. Manson, T. M. Y. The late Professor A. C. O'Dell (n.p.: n.pub., 1966). O' Dell, Andrew C. (comp.), Catalogue of the Railway library of Andrew C. O'Dell (Aberdeen: n.pub., 196-?). Ottley, George, Railway History: A Guide to 61 Collections in Libraries and Archives in Great Britain (London: Library Association, 1973). Smith, C., ‘The O’ Dell Transport Collection’, Great North Review, 4 (August 1967), 41-2. Smith, Gordon C. K., ‘The O' Dell transport collection and local railway history’, Aberdeen University Review, 43 (1969-70). 33-38. Walton, Kenneth, ‘Professor Andrew Charles O’ Dell’, Aberdeen University Review, 41 (1965-66), 289-90. Anderson-Smith, M., ‘The O’ Dell Railway Connection in Aberdeen University Library,’ Locscot, 1 (Spring, 1985), 150-53. AU MS 2882 Papers of Andrew C. O' Dell (1909-66), geographer. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Partial. Acquisition policy restricts new items to major railway publications relating to Scotland that are of a lasting scholarly value; and titles which are concerned with railway transport in the north-east of Scotland. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Bequeathed by Professor Andrew C. O’ Dell (1909-66), Professor of Geography at the University of Aberdeen (1951-66). Later donations, mainly from former graduates, have also increased not only the size but the scope of the Collection. |
| Access control
|
Open access, borrowable with some reference. |
| Collection
title |
Phillips Library of Pharmacology and Therapeutics |
| Description |
A life-long study of pharmacology and therapeutics by Dr Charles W. F. Phillips (1831-1905) saw him amass a substantial library which he gifted to the University Library in 1907. Early in the twentieth century, texts (already in the Library) in the appropriate subject groups were transferred from other sequences, and added to this collection. The various books concerning this field of medicine range from the infancy of print through to the late nineteenth century. Any researcher interested in the history of science and medicine should find this Collection of over a 1000 items an extremely useful resource. |
| Keywords |
Pharmacology and therapeutics. |
| Strengths |
Some seventeenth-century works, mainly in Latin on materia medica as well as many nineteenth-century medical books. Many of the classical textbooks of pharmacology and therapeutics are represented within this Collection. |
| Languages |
English, German, French, Latin |
| Identifier |
Phillips |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1250 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1850s-1900s |
| Contents date
range |
1602-1908 |
| Associated publication(s) |
For some account of the Phillips Library, see P. J. Anderson's introduction to Subject Catalogue of the Phillips Library of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1911), vii-xv. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Founded in 1907 as a memorial to Dr Charles D. F. Phillips (1831-1905), a graduate of the University of Aberdeen (MB, 1852, MD, 1888), sometime lecturer in Materia Medica in Westminster Hospital Medical School, external examiner and LLD of the University of Aberdeen, 1900, by the gift from his widow and family.By 1911 the Phillips Library was enlarged by the addition of books on cognate subjects in collections already held in the University Library, including those of Duncan Liddell (bequeathed 1613), Thomas Reid (1624), the Earl of Bute (presented 1782), books preserved by the third Earl of Bute (Chancellor of Marischal College in 1782) and Sir John Forbes (presented 1859). Dr. Phillips also founded the Phillips scholarship in 1897. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
S Collection |
| Description |
This Collection, on bibliography, the wider aspects of (Western) print culture, and manuscript production, has been built up to assist with teaching and research into aspects of the University's written and printed holdings. The Collection covers many aspects of manuscript production, book production and printing, studies of individual manuscripts, libraries and archives, bibliographical studies, binding, censorship, and special collections, as well as containing much reference material. |
| Keywords |
Manuscript studies; bibliography; book design; publishing. |
| Strengths |
The Collection predominately holds texts on the culture of the book in a European context. There are also many facsimiles of manuscripts. |
| Languages |
English, Latin, French, Spanish |
| Identifier |
S |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 2000 volumes. Many periodical runs (bibliography and archive studies). |
| Accumulation
date range |
1980s-present |
| Contents date
range |
1811-present. Mainly twentieth century onwards |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Collection is from general library stock and was originally formed as a Collection specifically relating to items in Aberdeen University Library. The remit changed and the Collection has a far wider reference to books and manuscript studies in general. The Collection in its present form began to built up from the mid-1980s and acquisitions are added on a regular basis. |
| Access control
|
Open access, borrowable with some reference. |
| Collection
title |
Simpson Collection |
| Description |
The contents represent the working collection of Dr W. Douglas Simpson (1896-1968) who was an authority on castellated architecture, particularly in Scotland. The Collection contains all his works as well as inscribed copies from scholars in the same field. |
| Keywords |
Architecture; archaeology; history; folklore. |
| Strengths |
Dr Simpson spent a lifetime researching into aspects of Scottish history (and pre-history) ; and not only did he write extensively on the subject but he also painstakingly added annotations to his published works. |
| Languages |
English, some German |
| Identifier |
Sim |
| Physical characteristics |
The Collection consists of some 250 mostly interleaved and annotated copies of his own very numerous publications and related material, plus c. 150 pamphlets. There are also 5500 glass lantern slides used in his lectures, approx. 1750 postcards, and large-scale plans of buildings, produced in the course of his investigations. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1920s-1966 |
| Contents date
range |
Twentieth century |
| Associated publication(s) |
Hall, A. T., W. Douglas Simpson, Dunollie Castle and the Brooch of Lorne (Aberdeen, Centre for Scottish Studies, U. of Aberdeen, 1991). With a bibliography of W.D. Simpson's publications. Witte, William ‘William Douglas Simpson’, Aberdeen University Review, 43 (1969-70), 24-27. Milne, John N. ‘W. Douglas Simpson’, Aberdeen University Review, 41 (1965-66), 269-71. An obituary notice also appears in the Press and Journal for the 10th of October, 1968. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The death, in 1967, of Dr W. Douglas Simpson (University Librarian, 1926-66) brought the bequest of his personal working library. Later additions to the Collection, also from Dr Simpson’s private library, were made in 1992. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Society of Friends |
| Description |
The Religious Society of Friends has been active in the North-east of Scotland, mainly in the City of Aberdeen, since the 1660s. Despite persecution, which reached its height in the 1670s, not a few North-east people were attracted to the new movement such as Robert Barclay (1648-1690), theologian, Alexander Jaffray (1614-1673) and George Keith (1639?-1716). The Collection was amassed by the Society of Friends, and, no doubt, played a large part in their religious education. In 1990 the Collection was deposited at the University when the library was transferred from the Aberdeen Meeting House in Crown Street, Aberdeen. This was added to an earlier Collection which had come from Kinmuck Meeting House, founded around 1681. |
| Keywords |
Society of Friends |
| Strengths |
A core element of the Collection relates to the writings of Quaker apologists and biographers, but there more general religious books. They date are mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though some are from the nineteenth century. |
| Languages |
English, French |
| Identifier |
SFK, SFA |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 210 volumes in SFK and c. 115 volumes in SFA. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1650s-1861? |
| Contents date
range |
1650s-1861 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Jaffray, Alexander, Diary of Alexander Jaffray, to which are added particulars of his subsequent life, given in connexion with memoirs of the rise, progress, and persecutions, of the people called Quakers, in the North of Scotland, (ed.) John Barclay (London: Harvey & Darton, 1833). Aberdeen. Society of Friends, Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets belonging to the Aberdeen monthly meeting of the Society of Friends, in their libraries at Aberdeen and Kinmuck . (Aberdeen: n.pub., 1870). Cadbury, Christabel, Robert Barclay: His Life and Work (London: Headley Bros., 1920). Torrance, John, ‘The Early Quakers in the North East Scotland’, Proceedings of the Banffshire Journal Field Club (1936), 67-87. Armstrong, C. J. R., ‘The Kinmuck Meeting House: A Seventeenth Century Scandal?’ Aberdeen University Review XLV (1973-74), 369-79. Armstrong, C. J . R., ‘A Rock of Offence: The Quakers of Kinmuck’, (ed.) Archie W. M. Whitely, Bennachie Again (n.p.: Bailies of Bennachie, 1983). Hewitt, A. R. ‘The Quakers in the North-east: Unity, Liberty, Charity’, Deeside Field 20 (1988), 62-65. Brown, Michael, ‘Aberdeen's Quaker Invasion’, The Leopard, 139 (August, 1989), 9,11. DesBrisay, Gordon, ‘Quakers and the University: the Aberdeen Debate of 1675 / Gordon DesBrisay, Hist. Univ., vol.XIII (1994), 87-98. Trowell, Stephen, George Keith: Post-Restoration Quaker Theology and the Experience of Defeat’, Bulletin John Rylands University Library Manchester v.76, no.1 (Spring 1994), 119-137. DesBrisay, Gordon, ‘Catholics, Quakers and religious persecution in Restoration Aberdeen’, Innes Review, v.47, no.2 (Autumn 1996), 136-168. Seager, Delia, ‘Quakerism in the North East of Scotland: Enthusiasm, Apology and Persecution’, After Columba, after Calvin: Community and Identity in the Religious Traditions of North East Scotland, (ed.) James Porter (Aberdeen: Elphinstone Institute, 1999), 97-106. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Collection as a whole is in fact an amalgamation of two libraries. The earlier came from the Kinmuck Meeting House sometime during the mid-1970s. A further collection was deposited to the University in 1990 from the Meeting House in Aberdeen. The original provenance of the two libraries can be identified by the shelfmark. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Stationer’s Hall Music Collection |
| Description |
As the title suggests, the Collection consists of volumes received (under legal deposit arrangements) from Stationers’ Hall in London from 1753-1835. The cataloguing of the Collection is still in progress. Much material originally received before 1801 is now absent, but some important works remain including a set of John Walsh's editions of Corelli (1653-1713), some first editions of nineteenth-century composers such as Mendelssohn (1809-1947), and the first British editions of works by Chopin (1810-1849). |
| Keywords |
Music |
| Strengths |
Mainly of the first three decades of the nineteenth century |
| Languages |
English, French, Italian |
| Identifier |
SH Mus |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 337 volumes, comprising c.4400 items. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1753-1835 |
| Contents date
range |
173?-1835 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Cooper, Barry, Catalogue of Early Printed Music in Aberdeen Libraries: a Complete List of Music and Music Literature Published before 1801 held by Aberdeen University and Aberdeen Public Library (Egham Hill: Royal Musical Association, 1978). Turbet, Richard & Cooper, Barry, ‘Catalogue of Early Printed Music in Aberdeen Libraries: Supplement, 1979-1988’, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 26 (1990),170-176. Turbet, Richard, ‘Music Deposited by Stationers’ Hall in the University and King’s College of Aberdeen, 1753-96’, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 30 (1998),139-62. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Stationers' Hall Music Collection consists of over 300 volumes received from Stationers' Hall in London under copyright privilege to King's College (with allowance made for consultation by Mariuschal College staff) from 1753 to 1835. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Taylor Psalmody Collection |
| Description |
This Collection was formed by William Lawrence Taylor (1829-1910), a Peterhead scholar-bookseller and came into the possession of the Library in 1910. The Collection consists of editions of the Psalms, and is divided into three sections: (i) complete versions, 1546-1911, the earliest with music dated 1578, with detailed bibliographic details; (ii) partial versions, together with Collections of paraphrases and hymns, 1546-1914; (iii) books relating to metrical versions and to hymnology in the Library’s general stock. This has c. 200 volumes mainly on nineteenth- and twentieth-century books on hymnology. |
| Keywords |
Psalmody; hymnology |
| Strengths |
The Collection contains many rare editions, such as the earliest printed volume in the Collection, Johannes de Turrecremata, Expositio in psalterium (Venice, 1502), in an attractive blind-tooled calf binding. It contains most English and Gaelic metrical versions to 1914, together with many Latin and some French versions. The Collection extends to early-twentieth-century editions. |
| Languages |
Latin. English, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Dutch, French, German, Chinese. |
| Identifier |
TR |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 1080 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1846-1910 |
| Contents date
range |
1502-1929 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Aberdeen University Library, Catalogue of the Taylor Collection of Psalm Versions (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1921), P. J. Anderson introduces the Collection in a preface. Giles, Peter, William Lawrence Taylor (n.p., n.pub., 1912). Johnson, Ronald, ‘Hymnological Collections in Scotland’, The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 11 (October, 1987), 269-71. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The bulk of this Collection was formed by William Lawrence Taylor (1829-1910), a Peterhead scholar-bookseller, which was acquired from his trustees by Dr Willam Dey, a member of the University Court, who presented it to the Library in 1910. Taylor made contributions to Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology where his knowledge of the subject area can be readily seen. Also, other psalmody literature in other collections, were added to his collection at the time it was catalogued. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Theological Library |
| Description |
This Collection was formed in 1700 (with financial assistance from the Synod of Aberdeen) for the benefit of divinity students at both King's and Marischal. |
| Keywords |
Theology; Biblical commentaries/studies; sermons; missionary work; church history. |
| Strengths |
The content is largely theological, with some historical and philosophical material spanning the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. There are several editions of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, historian and theological writer, including A Collection of Sermons...(London: Chiswell, 1704), containing some 30 different texts. |
| Languages |
English, German, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew |
| Identifier |
TL |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 3000 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1700-early twentieth century |
| Contents date
range |
1610-1909 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Marischal College, Aberdeen, Catalogue of Books belonging to the Theological Library of Marischal College, Aberdeen (Aberdeen, various dates betw. 1790 and 1901. An account of the two libraries, founded in 1700 and 1863, is given in Report by the Library Committee to the University Court under the remit of 14th December, 1897, anent theological libraries, and subsequent action is recorded in Aberdeen University Court Minutes of 11th of January, 12th of April and 13th of June, 1898.. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Theological Library founded in 1700, was for the use of divinity students at both Marischal College and King's College. It originated in a grant by the Synod of Aberdeen from the rents of Cairntardin for the years 1698-99, during which the Chair of Divinity in King’s College was vacant. The development of the Library can be traced through a series of manuscript and printed catalogues, the earliest, 1790 (thought to be the first printed catalogue at the University), through to the final one, 1901, by which time the Collection had been acquired by the University Library itself. Originally the library was housed in Marischal College Library and was removed to the Divinity Hall in 1754. By 1880, due to an extension of the South Wing of Marischal College the books were removed and placed in a cellar. Shortly after this they were removed to King’s College. This unsatisfactory state of affairs was finally brought to an end in 1898 when the University Librarian was granted custodial care of the books. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Theses |
| Description |
Like other British universities, it was not until the late-nineteenth century that the University of Aberdeen introduced formal regulations for the submission of theses for the award of a higher degree. In accordance with current University regulations two copies of a thesis are lodged with the Registry once it has been accepted for a higher degree (such as a PhD, MSc, MPhil or MLitt.). One of the two submitted copies is lodged at either Queen Mother Library or the Medical School Library, Foresterhill, where it may be made available for borrowing. The second copy is permanently retained in Historic Collections, and is for reference only. |
| Keywords |
Christianity; religion; sermons; doctrine; scripture; gospel; biblical studies/criticism and commentaries; Old Testament; New Testament; missionary movements; evangelicalism; theism; ecclesiastical history; comparative religion. |
| Strengths |
The content is largely theological, with some historical and philosophical material spanning the 17th to the 20th centuries. For instance, there are several editions of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, historian and theological writer, including A Collection of Sermons Preached by the Right Reverend Dr. Gilbert Burnet, Lord Bishop of Sarum (London: Chiswell, 1704), containing some 30 different texts. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
Th, A Th (Agriculture) – agricultural theses, F Th (Foresterhill) – medical theses, The archival copy if has the shelfmark Ref, e.g. Ref Th, A Ref Th, F Ref Th |
| Physical characteristics |
Around 3000 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1883-present |
| Contents date
range |
1883-present |
| Associated publication(s) |
Aberdeen University, Abstracts of theses accepted by the University for higher degrees (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1933). For some historical background, see: Johnstone, James F. K., The Lost Aberdeen Theses (Aberdeen: University Press, 1916). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Active |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Copies deposited in the University library system according to current regulations. |
| Access control
|
Copies in Historic Collections are closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Thomson of Banchory Collection [of pamphlets] |
| Description |
Alexander Thomson of Banchory-Devenick (1792-1868), a graduate twice of Marischal College (MA 1816, LLD 1855) pursued a variety of subjects including law, mathematics, language and literature, botany, geology and zoology. It would seem that no subject was unworthy of his study - a judgement which is reflected in his library which he amassed over many years. Thomson travelled widely with his family in Europe, especially in Italy and France. His very wide-ranging interests, particularly on Victorain social and educational issues are well represented in his library of c. 1600 books, and 6,000 pamphlets. This Collection is complemented by the Herald and King Collections built up around the same time. |
| Keywords |
Free Church of Scotland; Church of Scotland; social issues; law; politics; philosophy; theology. |
| Strengths |
The Collection of pamphlets, like Thomson's books, reflect the considerable breadth of his interests, particularly in social issues, education, ecclesiastical affairs and archaeology. There is strong element of continental imprints on various subjects reflecting Thomson’s interest in languages, particularly Italian. Also, there are many now uncommon local pamphlets on a variety of subjects which are extremely useful for researching the social history of the North-east in general during the nineteenth century. |
| Languages |
English, French, Italian, Latin |
| Identifier |
Thomson |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 6,000 pamphlets contained within 341 bound volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1800s-1868 |
| Contents date
range |
1715-1865 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Smeaton, George, Memoir of Alexander Thomson of Banchory . (Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1869). Aberdeen University Library, Catalogue of Pamphlets in the King, the Thomson and the Herald Collections (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University, 1927). Hunt, Charles, 'Alexander Thomson, Gentleman and Collector', Deeside Field, 18 (1984), 98-103. Anderson-Smith, M., 'Local Pamphlets', Northern Scotland 17 (1997), 129-33. AU MS 2210: Trust disposition and deed of settlement, 1867 July 26, of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), writer. AU MS 2769/I/164/1-3: Papers of Alexander Thomson, Banchory, Kincardineshire, 1868-73. AU MS 2769/II/113: Papers of Alexander Thomson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, 1868-73. AU MS 2829: Catalogue of Library of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), of Banchory, author, as bequeathed to Free Church College, Aberdeen. AU MS 3244/1-8: Papers of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), author, Banchory, Kincardineshire. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Alexander Thomson (1798-1868) of Banchory Devenick, (MA 1816, LLD 1855, Marischal College), bequeathed his library to the Free Church College, Aberdeen, with directions that it be made over to the University should that College cease to be recognised by the Free Church for the training of its ministers. The Collection was transferred to the custody of the University of Aberdeen around 1960. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Thomson of Banchory Collection [of books] |
| Description |
Alexander Thomson of Banchory-Devenick (1792-1868), a graduate twice of Marischal College (MA 1816, LLD 1855) pursued a variety of subjects such as Law, Mathematics, Languages, Botany, Geology and Zoology. It would seem that no subject was unworthy of his study which is reflected in his library, mainly pamphlets, which he amassed over the years. Well educated, Thomson travelled widely with his family in Europe, especially in Italy and France. His wide-ranging interests are well represented in his library of c. 1,600 books, a large proportion of which are in Italian or on Italian literature as well as other subjects. There is also a considerable body of scientific material. This Collection is complemented by the Thomson Collection of bound pamphlets. |
| Keywords |
Law; mathematics; literature (European); natural history; geology. |
| Strengths |
The wide-ranging interests, activities and travels of Thomson are represented in this library of c. 1600 books, many in Italian or on Italian subjects. The Collection includes eleven sixteenth-century volumes printed in Italy. There are also many other works of European literature in the original languages and many scientific works in English. |
| Languages |
English, Italian |
| Identifier |
TB |
| Physical characteristics |
2400 volumes |
| Accumulation
date range |
1800s-1868 |
| Contents date
range |
1715-1865 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Smeaton, George, Memoir of Alexander Thomson of Banchory . (Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1869). Aberdeen University Library, Catalogue of Pamphlets in the King, the Thomson and the Herald Collections (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University, 1927). Hunt, Charles, 'Alexander Thomson, Gentleman and Collector', Deeside Field, 18 (1984), 98-103. AU MS 2210: Trust disposition and deed of settlement, 1867 July 26, of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), writer. AU MS 2829: Catalogue of Library of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), of Banchory, author, as bequeathed to Free Church College, Aberdeen. AU MS 3244/1-8: Papers of Alexander Thomson (1798-1868), author, Banchory, Kincardineshire. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Alexander Thompson (1798-1868), laird of Banchory Devenick (MA, 1816 and LLD, 1855, Marischal College), bequeathed his library to the Free Church College, Aberdeen, with directions that it be made over to the University should the Free Church College cease to be recognised by the Free Church for the training of its ministers. Some of the Collection was later deposited around 1970 and is on permanent loan to the University of Aberdeen from Christ’s College. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
| Collection
title |
Victorian Literature Collection |
| Description |
This Collection (and the closely related Collection of Victorian Poetry) formed in the late 1970s, spans the period 1801-1901 and includes minor British literature published over that time. The VL Collection comprises c. 650 volumes. |
| Keywords |
Literature (Victorian) |
| Strengths |
Inclusion in this Collection is determined by reference to the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, and other standard reference works. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
VL |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 650 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1976-present |
| Contents date
range |
1801-1901 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Highly selective. Inclusion in these Collections is determined by reference to the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, and other standard reference works. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Based upon a collection purchased from the antiquarian bookseller, C. C. Kohler, in 1976. The catalogue above lists the 400 volumes of books at the time of purchase and further additions to the collection integrated from the general stock are on the OPAC. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Victorian Poetry Collection |
| Description |
This Collection (and the closely related Collection of Victoran Literature), formed in the late 1970s, spans the period 1801-1901 and includes minor British poetry published over that time. This VP Collection comprises c. 550 volumes, many of which from the earlier decades of the 19th century, are still in original board covers with pasted spine labels. |
| Keywords |
Literature (Victorian) |
| Strengths |
Inclusion in this Collection is determined by reference to the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, and other standard reference works. |
| Languages |
English |
| Identifier |
VP |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 575 volumes. |
| Accumulation
date range |
1976-present |
| Contents date
range |
1801-1901 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Sale catalogue: Minor Victorian Poetry: Five-hundred volumes offered for sale as one collection (Surrey: C. C. Kohler, 1976). Fredeman, William E., Victorian Poetry 1850-1900: A Collection of 1000 titles (Surrey: C. C. Kohler, 1980). Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Highly selective. Inclusion in these Collections is determined by reference to the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, and other standard reference works. |
| Custodial history/provenance |
Based upon a collection purchased from the antiquarian bookseller, C. C. Kohler, in 1976. The catalogue above lists the 400 volumes of books at the time of purchase and further additions to the collection integrated from the general stock. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable |
| Collection
title |
Watt Collection |
| Description |
The predominant themes within this Collection are twentieth-century printing practices and typographical design. There are specimen type books specimen type books from leading companies including the Caslon Letter Foundry, Linotype & Machinery Ltd, and Stephenson, Blake & Co. The best and most innovative book designs of the time were portrayed in the Catalogue of an Exhibition of Twentieth-Century Scottish Books, organised by the Festival of Britain, and in several publications (1947-1953) of the National Book League and, from the 1920s, reports from competitions held by the Royal Society of Arts. |
| Keywords |
Book design, publishing |
| Strengths |
A number of useful printing or publishing house histories are present in the Collection such as Longmans, Swan Sonnenschein, Allen & Unwin, and Batsford, with which latter company AUP had a good and lasting business relationship. There are also some older, locally printed texts, including two from the seventeenth-century press of Edward Raban, the first printer in Aberdeen. A number of relative rarities are featured, as with The Adventures of Madiboo, a Native of the Pellew Islands, published in London, but printed by Cobban & Co in Aberdeen in 1828. The Collection also contains a number of examples of twentieth-century the fine printing, as with the seven volume Works of Shakespeare, Nonesuch Press (1929-33), together with Francis Coventry's The History of Pompey the Little (1926) and Sterne's Sentimental Journey (1928), both from the Golden Cockerel Press and a limited edition of The Thousand and One Nights (c.1921) from the Palmer Press. |
| Languages |
English, Latin |
| Identifier |
Watt |
| Physical characteristics |
c. 290 titles. |
| Accumulation
date range |
to 1990s. |
| Contents date
range |
1664-1983 |
| Associated publication(s) |
Beavan, I., ‘Aberdeen University Press and the Scottish Typographical Association: an Uneasy Early Relationship,’ in Images & texts: their Production and Distribution in the 18th and 19th centuries, (eds.) Peter Isaac & Barry McKay (Winchester: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1997), 143-162. Keith, Alexander, Aberdeen University Press: an Account of the Press from...1840 until...1963 (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press,1963). Watt, H. M. R., AUP: the Aberdeen University Press printed archive, 1840-1978: a Check List with Introduction and Commentary, (ed.) I. Beavan (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Library, [1994]). AU MS 3233 Records of Aberdeen University Press, with related material, 1866-1977. Available on Library OPAC or WebPAC |
| Accrual status |
Closed |
| Custodial history/provenance |
The Collection was donated by Dr H.M.R.Watt, sometime Managing Director of Aberden University Press. The business records of AUP (AU MS 3233) were deposited in 1986; whilst a complementary printed archive was deposited in 1989. |
| Access control
|
Closed access, non-borrowable. |
Historic Collections · King's College · Aberdeen · AB24 3SW · Tel: +44(0)1224 272598 · Email: speclib@abdn.ac.uk
