Printed Collections

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... more

The Special Books (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... more

Giving a unique view of the output of the printing press since its establishment in the North of Scotland, the Special Books Local (SBL) Collection comprises books, pamphlets and journals printed in Aberdeen, from 1622... more

This Collection includes books of aesthetic or scholarly value, of the period 1801 to the present day. Modern limited editions and the output of private presses are included, as are many nineteenth-century topographical works.

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;... more

This Collection affords a rare insight into the stock held by a county library in rural Aberdeenshire. Founded in 1839, with further additions made in the 1920s, the Collection, which includes stock from Alford Parish... more

This Collection focuses on the life and work of the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968). There are some 200 volumes of editions works by Barth himself; the remainder are about Barth or major preoccupations of... more

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,... more

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... more

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... more

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... more

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... more

This Collection is comprised of first and limited editions of works by leading members of the British literary scene, largely of the first half of the twentieth century. John Bisset Chapman (1875-1949), a graduate of... more

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... more

This Collection is a remnant of the pressmark system (Fixed Location) previously used to arrange books within the uiversity libraries, before the introduction of subject classification which is now standard within Aberdeen University Library. The... more

This small Collecion is comprised of editions of Classical authors, including some scholarly works by W. D. Geddes, Professor of Greek, King's College and the University from 1855 until 1885, when he became the University's... more

The focus of this Collection of printed books and prints is English caricature and satire of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, principally Cruikshank, Gillray and Hogarth. The collection of prints is largely contemporary. The printed... more

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... more

This small Collection reflects the interests of two of the University's most eminent classical scholars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Collection itself was the working library of John Harrower (1857-1933), Professor... more

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... more

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... more

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... more

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... more

The output of North-east of Scotland authors, whether native or adopted, form this Collection. The writings of such notable figures as Alexander Bain, James Beattie, J. M. Bulloch, John Stuart Blackie and Eric Linklater are well... more

Developed since the 1970s, the Local Collection is one of the most widely used within the Special Collections Centre. This Collection geographically covers the North-east of Scotland (i.e. the 'old' counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine,... more

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... more

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 Great Britain, and provides invaluable insights into later-seventeenth- and eighteenth-century society... more

A collection of books mainly by the minister, poet and novelist George MacDonald (1824-1905), graduate of the University. Many of the volumes are signed by the author.

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,... more

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... more

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... more

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... more

From the personal library of Professor Roger Robinson (1932-2003). An Oxford graduate, Robinson became the first professor of paediatrics at Guy's Hospital, London (1975-1990). After his retirement, Robinson embarked on a second, entirely divergent career.... more

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... more

This Collection has been described as one of the finest in the world devoted to the writer Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). It contains first editions of nearly all Scott's novels, poems, essays and other works... more

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... more

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, numerous North-east people were attracted... more

As the title suggests, the Collection consists of volumes received under legal deposit arrangements from Stationers’ Hall in London from 1753 to 1835. The cataloguing of the Collection is still in progress. Much material originally... more

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... more

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 Colleges.

In accordance with current University regulations, one bound hard copy of a student's thesis is now lodged with the University Library once it has been accepted for a higher degree (such as a PhD, MSc,... more

Three discreet but complementary collections of bound pamphlets, encompassing a vast panorama of subjects. The Collections were all accumulated in the nineteenth century.
Thomson: Alexander Thomson of Banchory-Devenick (1798-1868), graduate of Marischal College (MA 1816,... more

This Collection, and the closely related Collection of Victorian Poetry, formed in the late 1970s, spans the period 1801-1901. It includes minor British literature published over that time.

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. Many of the volumes date from the... more

The predominant themes within this Collection are twentieth-century printing practices and typographical design. There are specimen type books from leading companies, including the Caslon Letter Foundry, Linotype & Machinery Ltd, and Stephenson, Blake & Co.... more

This is the personal library of Robert Wilson, 1787-1871, of Banff. Wilson was an alumnus of Marischal College (1802-1804, MD, 1814) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (Diploma, 1810). A precocious medical student,... more