Discovering Books and Borrowers in Edinburgh 1750-1830

When & Where

Wednesday, 13 March 2024 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL

Event Details

Was the most borrowed author of the Scottish Enlightenment French? Did readers rush to their libraries to borrow the latest Romantic poetry? What genres and authors dominate the lists of the most-borrowed books in Scotland from 1750 to 1830?

This talk will focus on four Edinburgh libraries, and their users, studied in recent the ‘Books and Borrowing, 1750-1830’ project. The libraries are: The Royal High School Library, Edinburgh University Library, the Advocates Library, and Chambers’ Circulating Library. The talk will also introduce a new open access database that tells the story of book borrowing in Edinburgh … and beyond.

Kit Baston was a research fellow on the AHRC-funded project "Books and Borrowing, 1750-1830: An Analysis of Scottish Borrowers’ Registers" which ran from 2020 to 2023 at the Universities of Stirling and Glasgow. Her book "Charles Areskine’s Library: Scottish Lawyers and Their Books at the Dawn of the Enlightenment" was published by Brill in 2016.

Contact

Jerry Ozaniec

Costs

Non-members £8 (in-person or online); Members free

Event Location

Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
EH1 1EL

Disclaimer

Please note that you should check with the event organiser to confirm details of times and location - Scottish Local History Forum is not responsible for the events hosted by Member Societies.