adopt a book from the abbotsford library · astronomy explained upon sir isaac newton’s...

ADOPT A BOOK FROM THE ABBOTSFORD LIBRARY

[ Catalogue v3 ]

Sponsor a book in full to have your name (or a name of your specification) added on to the Abbotsford Library online catalogue, used by enthusiasts and researchers from around the world

Sponsors will be given the opportunity to arrange a private consultation at Abbotsford to see the volume they have adopted following its conservation work

Sponsors will receive a season pass to Abbotsford, entitling them to visit as many times as they wish from March 1st- November 30th

Sponsors will receive special acknowledgement in the Abbotsford newsletter

Sponsors will receive a personalised adoption certificate in the post to remember their contribution

SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS

THE STORY OF THE ABBOTSFORD LIBRARY

The library at Abbotsford is entirely the creation of Sir Walter Scott: it begins with the chapbooks he collected as a child and continues through the small volumes of poetry he annotated as a schoolboy and the sentimental books gifted to him by his grandfather, mother and aunt. The lecture notes he took as a young law student can be found on our shelves, as well as the poems he composed for hisfirst love, Williamina Belsches, and the manuscript versions of the ballads he collected whilst compiling The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.

Scott amassed vast numbers of books and tracts on the Covenanters and the Jacobites, together with the countless volumes of history, geography, chivalry, folklore and witchcraft he used as source material for his own Waverley novels.

The shelves in his study are filled not only with practical reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias, but also with the contemporary instruction manuals on planting and tree-cultivation that he used to help him develop the land around his home.

Scott believed in the power of self-education and that reading was the key, encouraging his youngest son to:

“Read my dear Charles, read and read that which is useful. Man only differs from birds and beasts because he has the means of availing himself of the knowledge which has been acquired by his predecessors.”

The Abbotsford Library is now cared for by the Faculty of Advocates Abbotsford Collection Trust.

This is your opportunity to be a part of our story.

HOW TO ADOPT A BOOK

Have a look through the catalogue. Each listing has the book title, an insight into the book and its history, a brief description of the work that needs to be carried out and the expected total cost of that work

Select a book from our catalogue – or two!

Contact us using the details at the end of this catalogue and our Development Officer will arrange the adoption with you

You can look forward to the sponsorship benefits, including receiving your adoption certificate in the post

Apollonii Rhodii Argonauticorum

By Apollonius of Rhodes

Printed 1641

In January 1824, Sir Walter Scott received a beautiful gift from his publisher Archibald Constable: a set of the classics bound with gilded edges and stamped with Scott’s coat of arms.

“Yesterday I had the great pleasure in placing in my provisional library the most splendid present as I in sincerity believe which ever an author received from a bookseller, in the shape of the inimitable Variorums. Who knows what new ideas the Classics may suggest for I am determined to shake off the rust which years has contracted and to read at least some of the most capital of the ancients before I die”.

A number of these volumes now require conservation work to repair damage to the original spines. This particular volume, badly in need of your help, contains perhaps the most famous work by Apollonius of Rhodes: the epic tale of Jason and the Argonauts and the quest for the Golden Fleece.

We will:

• Clean text block

• Re-back in leather

• Remount original spine

1

£175

The chimney-sweeper’s friend and climbing-boy’s album

Arranged by James Montgomery, with illustrative designs by George Cruikshank.

1824

This work is a real piece of social history. In 1824 the philanthropist and writer James Montgomery published an anthology of poems with the aim of drawing attention to the plight of Britain’s chimney sweeps - more often than not, young boys of primary school age who suffered frequent illnesses and life-changing injuries from the extreme hazards of their work; from cancer and severe burns to deformed spines and amputated limbs. Scott seems to have been alerted to the initiative by his good friend, the playwright Joanna Baillie, and subsequently subscribed to the campaign. He is personally thanked by Montgomery in the preface to the work.

Concerns over chimney-sweeping practices actually impacted upon the design of Abbotsford’s flue system.

We will:

• Conservation clean

• Repair damaged front board

• Remount the original spine


2

£170

Lacunar Strevelinense. : A collection of heads, etched and engraved after the carved works which formerly decorated the roof of the king’s room in Stirling Castle

1817

A selection of the heads that once adorned the breath-taking ceiling of the presence chamber of Stirling Castle before their removal in 1777, were beautifully recreated in the painted glass of Abbotsford’s Ante-Room - or South Armoury - by Elizabeth Terry, daughter of the Scottish artist Alexander Nasmyth. Scott had been persuaded to implement this detail into the windows of his new home by Elizabeth’s husband, his good friend Daniel Terry.

The original etchings in this work - 38 plates in total - were provided by Edward Blore, Abbotsford architect, working alongside ‘a lady,’ most probably Elizabeth Terry herself who was well acquainted with Blore. These plates were undoubtedly the physical reference point for the painting of Abbotsford’s Ante-Room windows, making this volume from Scott’s Library absolutely key to his home.

Scholarly work continues to try and reveal the identity of all 38 individuals represented in these roundels, although it seems certain that they were all key figures of the Scottish monarchy and state before the Union of the Crowns in 1707.

We will:

• Conservation clean the text block



• Repairs the damaged boards

3

£190

Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles, and made easy to those who have not studied mathematics

By James Ferguson, Edited by Andrew Mackay, LL.D. F.R.S. ED

1809

Scott’s interest in science and new technologies is often underplayed. James Ferguson was a Scottish-born lecturer, inventor and author from humble beginnings. His passion was astronomical clocks and mechanical instruments and this publication, designed to explain Newton’s principles to the reading public of the 18th century, also contains a number of fascinating fold-out plates, some detailing his own inventions.

The book was previously owned by the eminent mathematician Andrew Mackay (also the editor of this 12th edition) whose skill had proved useful in his appointment as a mathematical examiner to the East India Company. You can see the coat of arms of the Company gold-stamped on the front and back of the volume. Mackay had taught students in his later years at his home in London, and this book bears a 3rd class Mathematical Prize Label pasted inside the front cover. It is possible it was used as a reference book by Scott’s children.

We will:



• Remount the original tooled spine

4

£200

Memoirs of secret service

By Matthew Smith of the Inner-Temple, Esq

1699

Matthew Smith was a 17th-century spy and these Memoirsare an important , and perhaps the very first, example of undercover autobiographical writing that we’re so familiar with today.

The Jacobite conspiracies and political intrigue they contain were no doubt of fascination to Sir Walter Scott.

We will:


• Repair the damaged leaves



5

£160

The monumental remains of noble and eminent persons, comprising the sepulchral antiquities of Great Britain

By Edward Blore F.S.A

1824-6

Edward Blore is a crucial figure in Abbotsford’s architectural history. This work, published in six parts between 1824-1826, was the result of his 1823 tour of northern England, sketching the monumental tombs of eminent figures from history. Blore was intimately involved in the engraving process for many of the plates.

The Abbotsford set is missing parts 2-3 and this is noted on the front cover of part 1 by Scott himself. He also details his binding instructions in these lines. It is likely that the ambition to have the series bound was forgotten in the wake of the financial crash of 1826.

In its unbound state, the first title page of first the part of the series has suffered from exposure to dirt and dust and now requires careful conservation cleaning. With your help, we will also commission a bespoke box to keep the series safe.

We will:

• Conservation clean throughout

• Repair damaged covers

• House in purpose-built box

6

£300

Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, & 1773

By James Bruce of Kinnaird, Esq. F.R.S

1804-5

Scott had loved travel accounts since boyhood, and in a surviving letter to the writer and poet Anna Seward, he reveals to her that he had read this account of James Bruce’s travels across modern day Ethiopa in the year that this edition was published. Scott toys with the idea of using these kind of exploratory accounts to inspire a work of fiction, before deciding that the original source would be too obvious to his reading public.

Around the same time Scott, had befriended the explorer Mungo Park, a key figure in the early exploration of West Africa, following the Niger river in to territory previously undocumented by Westerners. Park was to die in early 1806, a victim of the same river he had helped to put on the map.

We will:



• Remount Original Spine

7

£170 per volume, all 8 volumes requiring

conservation work

De miraculis occultis naturae libri

By Levinus Lemnius

1598

Probably published in Antwerp, and once in the collection of an abbey in Northern France, this work explores the many secret miracles of nature. Lemnius was a Dutch physician and his work is both philosophical and anatomical.

The sections of the work that consider the differences between the tempers of men and women, and the reasons for these differences, are often used by scholars as a window on late sixteenth-century gender politics.

We will:


• Re-case the delicate vellum binding

8

£120

The diary of Mr John Lamont of Newton 1649-71

1830

This was the seventh publication of the Maitland Club, the Glasgow-based literary club responsible for publishing a number of rare Scottish texts from their manuscript sources. It was modelled on the success of the Roxburghe and Bannatyne clubs, of which Scott was also a member.

Scott became a member of the Maitland Club in March 1829 at the same time as his son-in-law, John Gibson Lockhart. He doesn’t seem to have attended Club meetings, probably due to his workload and ill health, but he did correspond with members and offer advice and support. All members received a personalised copy of privately printed works.

As a chronicle of a period of civil unrest and religious dissention, this work also has a thematic relationship with the great body of material that Scott had collected relating to the Covenanters and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

We will:

• Conservation clean and repair leaves as necessary

• Re-back in paper

• Remount the original spine.

• Repair boards

9

£195

The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle

1773 – Vol 43

The Gentleman’s Magazine was founded in 1731, although Abbotsford’s collection does not contain all issues. It was a repository of news stories, reprinted poems and short stories, accompanied by a healthy dose of satire. The publication marked the first use of the word ‘magazine’ in a publishing rather than a military context.

Many volumes in Scott’s collection of Magazine issues require further conservation work, including Volume 43, dating from 1773.

Please help us repair historic damage to its spine and boards.

We will:



• Remount original spine.

• Repair board

10

£200

The first booke of cattel

By Leonard Mascall

1600

We will:

• Re-back the volume


11

£160

image to follow

This is a delightful early modern manual on livestock husbandry, containing numerous diagrams and illustrations. Books such as this actively helped improve the breeding of farm animals; a legacy we can still enjoy today. In the late 16th and early 17th century, there was a flurry of such works published with the aim of educating and supporting farmers and agricultural workers from further down the societal pecking order. Previously such manuals had only circulated amongst wealthy landowners.

Scott was himself a landholder and farmer, both at Ashestiel and then at Abbotsford itself. Livestock still graze periodically on the estate to support biodiversity on the haugh. The relationship between James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, and Sir Walter Scott is well documented and dates back to the days of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-3).

Collection of scraps from newspapers, &c., songs, ballads &c

Assembled by John Bell of Newcastle

19th Century

We will:

• Conservation clean throughout

• Repair and resew the damaged leaves

• Reback in leather

• Repair the boards

12

£335

image to follow

John Bell was a Newcastle-based bookseller and antiquary who had corresponded with Scott between 1808-1816. The nature of their correspondence was primarily based on the sharing of ballads and songs.

It is unknown how this wonderful and eclectic collection of ‘scraps’ made its way to Scott but we hope that conservation work will allow the volume to be more readily available for researchers.

Works of Flavius Josephus

Volume 2

1751

We will:

• Repair boards


• Remount original spine

13

£180

Scott fell in love with reading at an early age, aided by the influence and encouragement of his paternal grandmother and aunt. One of his early favourites was The Wars of the Jews, by the Romano-Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus. This is included in this three-volume set of Josephus’ works, with this volume in urgent need of your support. This early passion for the Holy Land would find an outlet in Scott’s Tales of the Crusaders, published in the 1820s.

Josephus is now considered to be one of the most important voices in Jewish history.

The Spy

Edited by James Hogg

1810-11

We will:


• Repair damaged boards

• Resew damaged leaves

14

£590

image to follow

The Spy was a weekly periodical founded and edited by Scott’s friend and fellow poet, James Hogg. Each eight-page issue cost the reader fourpence. The Spy was a short-lived venture and the magazine wound down after only a year, although Hogg continued to contribute regularly to other periodicals, as did Scott.

The main cause for the loss in readership over time seems to have been Hogg’s sometimes rigorous critique of Edinburgh’s societal circles using the Spy as his literary persona. The number of uncut leaves in Scott’s own copy of the issues indicates that he was, at best, ambivalent to Hogg’s latest venture. There are only a handful of original copies of the Spy known to have survived and no later reprints of the work until very recent critical editions.

Notes and observations on Scots law

By Walter Scott

1791

We will:



• Remount as much of the original spines as possible

15

£190 each Volumes 2 &3

This set of three worn volumes contain the handwritten notes taken by Walter Scott during the lectures he attended on the law of Scotland, delivered in the University of Edinburgh by David Hume, nephew of the famous Enlightenment philosopher.

They are a key resource in understanding how Scott’s legal understanding took shape, and they are a treasure trove for academics.

Although the manuscript content inside is preserved, these volumes are in a bad state of repair and Volumes 2 and 3 require repair work to their boards and seriously damaged spines to allow them to be used for research and future display.

The Art of Preserving Health

By John Armstrong

1757

We will:




16

£190 each Volumes 2 &3

The four sections of this poetical work by a Roxburghshire physician who had worked in rehabilitating wounded soldiers is split into four sections entitled ‘Diet,’ ‘Air,’ ‘Exercise’ and ‘The Passions.’

Scott clearly owned this book as an adolescent, as indicated by the presence of his juvenile signature. Indeed for a boy who had struggled with the after-effects of contracting polio as an infant and suffered periods of ill health and absence from school, the advice in this manual may have brought comfort.

Scott used lines from this childhood favourite to preface chapters in his 1815 novel Guy Mannering.

Of dramatick poesie. : An essay

By John Dryden

1668

We will:


• Repair the damaged and loose leaves of the book


17

£390

Scott has been described as ‘the greatest editor of his age,’ chiefly

because of his ability to see literature and art in their broader societal

context. He first set out to published a new complete edition of Dryden’s

works in 1805, and after a great deal of meticulous research, his

eighteen-volume edition was published in 1808, with the first volume

given over to a new biography of England’s first Poet-Laureate by Scott as

the series editor.

He believed John Dryden to be a ‘man of genius’ and yet Scott was

committed to giving his readers a sympathetic but honest account of the

poet’s life, committing to present the author as he really was, rather than

as he would like him to have been.

This personal connection between Scott and an author represented in his

Library make this a particularly important work for us to preserve and

protect for the future.

An account of the Isle of Man : its inhabitants, language, soil, remarkable curiosities

By William Sacheverell Esq

1702

We will:


• Repair the loose leaves of the book

• Remount as much of the original spine as possible

• Repair the damaged front board

18

£180

Scott had a personal interest in the history and customs of the Isle of Man. His favourite brother, Thomas, lived for some years in Douglas, the island’s capital, and Thomas would forward on anecdotes about the traditions, folklore and historical sites in the area for his brother. That Scott knew a great deal about the Isle is evident in his correctional annotation on p.131 of this damaged volume, despite the fact that the author was the 18th Governor of Man!

Some of the action of his novel Peveril of the Peak (1823) is set on Man, and Scott relied upon his recollections of his brother’s notes, which he had misplaced in the intervening years, for painting a picture of the Isle as it might have been in the late 17th century.

The vision of Don Roderick; : a poem

By Walter Scott, Esq

1811

We will:


• Repair the damaged boards

19

£165

This poem was one of the last works that Scott wrote before leaving Ashestiel, his Borders home before Abbotsford. The financial proceeds were dedicated to the Portuguese citizens displaced or made destitute by the Peninsular War of 1808-14 fought between the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte and those of Spain and Britain under the Duke of Wellington. This effort contributed around 100 guineas of aid to the national fund.

This copy of the work was originally owned by Scott’s brother Major John Scott. It is particularly precious because Scott’s binding instructions in his own hand are still evident on the front board.

Markhams maister-peece. : Contayning all knowledge belonging to the smith, farrier, or horse-leech, touching the curing of all diseases in horses

By Gervase Markham

1636

We will:


• Repair the damaged boards



20

£210

This book is a real bibliophile’s treasure, containing numerous signatures of the previous owners over its four-hundred year history.

Although many of us know that human anatomical thinking and medicine in this period were chiefly governed by the theory of the four humours; many do not realise that this thinking was also applied to early veterinary medicine. Markham’s manual of horsemanship was the key text of the time for horse owners and breeders, and it remained popular into the century of Scott’s birth.

Scott was a keen horseman, but it seems more likely that works such as this provided him with a window on the belief systems of the past to help lend authenticity and depth to his writing.

Abbotsford has recently undergone an ambitious restoration project, preserving the iconic home of Sir Walter Scott. Now our attention turns to the collections Scott amassed over a lifetime of enthusiasm for and dedication to the past. It is the central mission of the Abbotsford Trust to ensure that these items are preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of the public. Your donation will help support this vital work.

All costs associated with Adopt a Book go towards the specialist conservation work and administration associated with the repair process.

If you would like to adopt any of the books featured in this catalogue or would like to find out how you could contribute more widely to the care and upkeep of Abbotsford, please contact:

Tania MurrayDevelopment OfficerTel: 01896 752043Email: [email protected] 9BQ

www.scottsabbotsford.com@AbbotsfordScott#AdoptABook

adopt a book from the abbotsford library · astronomy explained upon sir isaac newton’s...

Documents