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 Library, consists of c.1700 volumes. Whilst literary material, mainly from Victorian authors, forms the bulk of the Collection, science and agriculture are 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 Publications: 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 - please request. Non-borrowable.