Books and Borrowers, 1747-1857: Innerpeffray Library and the History of Scottish Reading

Innerpeffray是苏格兰最古老的免费借阅图书馆。由大卫德拉蒙德，主Maddertie，在1680年成立，它开始在一个小楼上的房间Innerpeffray教堂，在那里Maddertie存放自己的书籍。他的遗嘱详细说明了他“最近开始了一个图书馆”，这是“为了所有年轻学生的利益”，留下了一笔可观的款项（并捆绑了遗产的收入），以确保图书馆的生存和扩张“及时到来”。使用，但没有得到很好的管理，图书馆终于得到了应有的照顾和重视罗伯特海德拉蒙德，谁继承了它在18世纪40年代，并委托格鲁吉亚建设，其中收集仍然被安置。他还看到，收藏品增加了，正如最初的打算。在海·德拉蒙德的一生中，至少有3000本书被添加到大约450本的原始收藏中，他们的收购在某种程度上是由他自己的建议所告知的。在这里的图书馆停留，开放给公众免费借阅，直到最近的1968.除了是一个梦幻般的早期例子的公共借阅图书馆，Innerpeffray是这样一个罕见的来源在它的房子从1747年到1968年连续借阅的书籍登记.这些记录不仅提供了对图书馆的受欢迎程度和经常光顾图书馆的人的阅读习惯的深入了解，而且还提供了周围景观的社会和经济构成，通常会提供借阅者的地址和职业以及他们何时借阅的详细信息。这是一个宝贵的资源，学者的历史，图书馆和阅读。虽然其他学者，如马克·陶西，作为其他项目的一部分，可以访问Innerpeffray的借款人记录和收藏品，但我的博士研究独特地允许我广泛，长时间访问档案和收藏品，让我有机会比以往任何时候都更深入地探索借款。已经给出了一个伟大的概述的利弊相关的看历史的阅读从借款人的记录。虽然我的项目是直接集中在第一卷的借款人登记期间（1747-1857），我的研究问题到目前为止更多地涉及图书馆史而不是阅读的历史，尽管两者相互补充。这意味着要更全面地了解每个借款人从货架上挑选物品时所做的选择。它是怎么到那里的？谁决定哪些书被收录？单个卷是什么样的？阅读是什么感觉？如果没有像Innerpeffray这样的幸存者，这几乎是不可能知道的，在那里，书籍、借款人的登记簿和建筑本身都在原来的位置上幸存下来。

Innerpeffray is the oldest free lending library in Scotland. Founded by David Drummond, Lord Maddertie, in 1680, it began in a small upstairs room of Innerpeffray chapel, where Maddertie deposited his own books. His Will details that he has "lately begun a library" and that it is to be "for the benefit of all young students", leaving a significant sum (and tying up income from the estates) towards ensuring the survival and expansion of that library "in time comeing". Used, but not well managed, the library was finally given due care and attention by Robert Hay Drummond, who inherited it in the 1740s, and commissioned the Georgian building in which the collection is still housed. He also saw that the collection was augmented, as originally intended. At least three thousand books were added to the original collection of around 450 during Hay Drummond's lifetime, and their acquisition was informed to some extent by his own suggestion. Here the library stayed, open for borrowing to the general public for free, until as recently as 1968.Apart from being a fantastic early example of a public lending library, Innerpeffray is such a rare source at it houses a continuous register of books borrowed from 1747 until 1968. These records provide an insight not only into the popularity of the library and the reading habits of its frequenters, but also the social and economic make-up of the surrounding landscape, often giving the address and occupation of the borrower alongside details of what they borrowed when. This is a resource invaluable to scholars of the history of both libraries and reading. While other scholars, such as Mark Towsey, have had access to the borrowers' records and collections at Innerpeffray as part of other projects, my doctoral research uniquely allows me extensive, lengthy access to the archives and collections, giving me the opportunity to explore the borrowings in more depth and with more context than ever before.Maxine Branagh, in her previous post for the 21st-Century Book Historian blog, has given a great overview of the pros and cons associated with looking at the history of reading from Borrowers' records. While my project is directly focused on the period of the first volume of the borrowers' register (1747-1857), my research questions so far are more related to Library History than the History of Reading, though both feed into each other. This has meant looking for the fuller picture of what informs the choice each borrower makes when they pluck an item from the shelf. How did it get there in the first place? Who decided which books were included? What does the individual volume look like? What does it feel like to read? This is almost impossible to know without survivals like Innerpeffray, where the books, the borrowers' register and the building itself all survive, together, in their original location.