0272 /-' 
 
 Qi5482m 
 
 > 
 
 f.ij 
 
 > ■> •- ;cV 
 
. ■ j'i 
 

 The person charging this material is re- 
 sponsible for its return on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books 
 are reasons for disciplinary action and may 
 result in dismissal from the University. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 JUL idb 
 
 L161— 0-1096 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVLRSITY 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 02v; 2.4-1 
 G&4.e.'2m 
 
A PLEA 
 
 FOR 
 
 STIRLING’S Library 
 
 an abt)ics0 
 
 AT THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING ioth APRIL iSg4 
 
 WITH 
 
 A NOTE ON CRANMER’S BIBLE 
 
 DAVID MURRAY LL.D. 
 
 GLASGOW 
 
 PRINTED BY AIRD & COGHILL, 263 ARGYLE STREET 
 
 1894 
 
A PLEA 
 
 STIRLING’S Li Bift AR ¥ 
 
 Hn H^^)l•es0 
 
 AT THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING ioth APRIL 1S94 
 
 WITH 
 
 A NOTE ON CRANMER’S BIBLE 
 
 DAVID MURRAY LL.D. 
 
 GLASGOW 
 
 PRINTED BY AIRD & COGHILL, 263 ARGYLE STREET 
 
 1894 
 
 i-—- /O .J 
 
A 
 
 ! 
 
 
Cf 1.^41 
 
 A PLEA 
 
 FOR 
 
 STIRLING’S LIBRARY. 
 
 I HAVE been asked to support the resolution approving of the annual report. 
 It is a resolution which requires no argument to recommend its acceptance, but 
 I am glad to have an opportunity of saying a few words on behalf of Stirling’s 
 Library. I have been a reader in the Library for six and thirty years, and the 
 Merchants’ House have done me the honour of electing me one of their 
 Directors on the Board of Management, so that I take a special interest in all that 
 concerns Walter Stirling’s benefaction. 
 
 A few days ago, when turning over the file of the Glasgow Mercury y I came 
 upon the notice of his death. “Died yesterday [i.e., Monday, 17th January, 
 1791), Mr. Walter Stirling, Merchant in Glasgow, and late one of the Magistrates 
 of this City.” ^ 
 
 A fortnight later the bequest for the Library is announced; t “ The late 
 Mr. Walter Stirling, Merchant in Glasgow, by a deed of mortification, hath 
 bequeathed one thousand pounds sterling, his tenement in Millar Street, his share 
 in the Tontine Society of Glasgow, and the books in his own library at his death, 
 for establishing a Library in the City of Glasgow for the use of the inhabitants. 
 The management of which is vested in the Lord Provost and three members from 
 the Town Council ; three from the Merchants’ House ; three from the Presbytery 
 of Glasgow ; and three from the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. 
 The interest of the thousand pounds is to be applied in purchasing books, and in 
 salary for a Librarian ; but no less a sum than twenty pounds yearly is to be laid 
 out for books, and the Library is to be kept open three hours every day.” 
 
 The Deed of Mortification recites that “a Public Library kept in a proper 
 place in the City of Glasgow will be attended with considerable advantage to the 
 inhabitants.” This is a commonplace nowadays, but it was very far from being 
 so in the year 1785. Such a thing as a free Public Library, in the sense in which 
 it is now understood, was almost unknown. There were but two in England, 
 that of Humphrey Chetham at Manchester, established in 1653, and that of Dr. 
 Shepherd at Preston, established in 1761. In Scotland there were none. 
 
 * 18th January, 1791. 
 
 t 1st February, 1791. Mr. Stirling’s household furniture is advertised for sale in the 
 Glasgow Mercurg of 15th February, 1791. 
 
 
4 
 
 Archbishop Leigliton indeed bequeathed his Library to Dunblane, but for the 
 use of the Clergy of the Diocese, not for the people generally. 
 
 Stirling’s was therefore the first free Library in Scotland. Its history has been 
 often told ; and I can add nothing to what has been so well said by our former 
 librarian Mr. Mason, in his “Libraries of Glasgow, ’’and by our friend Mr. Murdoch 
 in his “Story of the Library as told by theMinute-Boqks. ” We are inclined to smile 
 at the management of a hundred years ago, but it is to be remembered that our 
 predecessors were groping their way ; they had nothing to guide them but their 
 own experience, and they had to educate the public to use and appreciate the 
 Library. The great difficulty with which the Directors have all along had to 
 contend is lack of funds, and it is a marvel that with so slender a revenue they 
 should have been able to bring together so many excellent books. Starting with 
 804 in 1791, there are now about 50,000 volumes upon our shelves. Part of Mr. 
 Stirling’s bequest consisted of his own library, and from the character of his 
 books, we can judge of the idea he had of what a library should be. His collection 
 consisted principally of works on civil and ecclesiastical history, geography, 
 voyages and travels, a few of the classics, and some works on grammar, 
 philology and the belles lettres, philosophy and metaphysics, trade and 
 commerce, several editions of the Bible, and a number of volumes of theology. 
 The works on medicine he had probably inherited from his father, Dr. William 
 Stirling, who was a physician in Glasgow. Amongst them is the “De Medicina 
 Indorum”of Jakob de Bondt or Bontius, as it appears in the Latinised form. 
 He was physician to the Dutch Settlement at Batavia from 1625 to 1631, and on 
 his return to Europe wrote several works on the diseases prevalent in the East, 
 and on the practice of medicine there. In the present work he treats of 
 dysentery, cholera morhus, and other diseases of Java, the climate and natural 
 productions of the country, the regulation of the diet, and the exercise to be 
 taken by European residents. This book contains one of the earliest accounts 
 which we have of tea. “The leaves of the tea shrub,” he says, “resemble those 
 of the common daisy, and have small notches on the edges. The Chinese method 
 of using them is to throw a handful of the leaves into a pot of boiling water, 
 which is allowed to remain on the fire for a sufficient time. The decoction so 
 made is slightly bitter and is sipped warm. The Chinese regard tea as a sacred 
 drink ; with it they welcome strangers, and with it they take leave of their 
 guests ; nor do they think they have fulfilled the laws of hospitality without 
 giving it. They esteem it in the same degree as the Mohammedans do their 
 caveah. It is of a drying quality, and hinders sleep by sending up vapours to 
 the brain; but it is of advantage to the asthmatic.”* 
 
 * Dialogue VI. This work was published originally at Leyden in 1642, and afterwards at 
 Paris in 1645 and 1646, and was translated into English so recently as 1769. Bontius’ 
 account is very similar to that given by six Jesuit missionaries who travelled to Siam some- 
 what later. See “A Relation of the Voyage to Siam performed by six Jesuits .... in 
 the year 16S5.” .... Now made English. Loudon, 1688 ; 8vo, with 28 Plates. 
 
5 
 
 Tea was sold in England in 1651 at from £6 to £10 sterling per pound. On 
 25th September, 1660, the gossiping Pepys records that he drank his first 
 “cup of tee, a China drink.” By that time the price had fallen to from 16s. to 
 60s. per pound. A century ago, that is in 1794, the price of ordinary tea was 
 from ,5s. to 7s. per lb., and it was estimated that there were then 30,000 tea 
 dealers in Great Britain. 
 
 Another interesting work, presumably from Dr. William Stirling’s library, 
 is “ Le Chirurgien Dentiste,” by Pierre Fauchard (Paris, 1728). The author was 
 a surgeon-dentist of great repute in Paris for more than 40 years, and seems to 
 have performed most of the operations practised by fashionable American dentists 
 of the present day. His book went through several editions, and was long 
 regarded as the most authoritative work on dentistry, and was only superseded 
 in recent years. What strikes the modern reader as curious, is that in describing 
 particular cases, he gives the names of his patients. Thus we have the son and 
 Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Renoult, the niece of M. Duchemin, the King’s 
 comedian ; Mademoiselle Deshayes, who passed through his hands at the age of 
 14, but when he wrote was wife of M. de Seve, who lived in the Rue de Baune, 
 Paris i M. Hall^, Painter in Ordinary to the King, and Professor in the Royal 
 Academy of Painting ; M. Houssu, nephew of M. le Cointre, musician and 
 pensionary of the Royal Academy of Music. 
 
 Walter Stirling evidently designed his library, not for the reception of current 
 literature, but for literature of historical interest. He imposed no restrictions 
 upon the Directors as to the books they were to purchase, but he recommended 
 that they “should be rather rare and curious books than of the common and 
 ordinary kinds,” 
 
 The worthy bailie seems to have acted on this principle in making his own 
 purchases, and many of his books are both rare and curious. The very first upon 
 the list, Raleigh’s “History of the World,” London, 1652, folio, is a work of 
 classical reputation, composed during the author’s imprisonment in the Tower, 
 and this particular edition is noted in the Huth Catalogue as an undescribed 
 edition, probably the second.* The next on the list, Matthew of Westminster’s 
 “ Historiarum Flores,” London, 1570, folio, is the first edition, and worthy of 
 attention on account of its typography. His edition of Matthew Paris’ “ Anglite 
 Historia” was that of 1684, and of it Dibdin says, “I recommend the edition of 
 1684, although it be not the popular one.” His copy of Stow’s “Chronicles,” 
 London, 1615, folio, is the best of the two published by its continuator Edmond 
 Howes, and is that which is in the Huth Library. His edition of Fox’s “Book of 
 Martyrs” (London, 1641, fob, 3 vols.) is an excellent one, and is the last that was 
 printed in black letter. The edition of 1684, which is generally considered the 
 
 * It was subsequently described by Hazlitt, “Bibliographical Collections,” Second Series, p. 509, 
 
6 
 
 best, is simply a reprint of this. He had Anthony h, Wood’s “Athenas 
 Oxonienses,” as edited by Bishop Tanner, in two folio volumes (London, 1721), 
 which was considered the best until it was superseded by that of Dr. Philip 
 Bliss, published 1813-20. Dibdin grows enthusiastic over the “Athenoc,” “a 
 work,” he says, “which every young man who prefers intellectual reputation 
 to fleeting and frivolous pursuits (not worth the mention) should be enjoined 
 to purchase and to read on quitting the University of Oxford.” 
 
 Walter Stirling owned a copy of Cotton Mather’s “ Magnalia Christi ” (London, 
 1702, folio). This is one of the most singular books ever written. It overflows 
 with quotations from the almost countless languages at the author’s command, 
 and the whole is interspersed with a jumble of puns and poems, of sermons and 
 anagrams. As a picture of certain phases of New England life it is unrivalled. 
 It is a book now much sought after, and commands a good price in the market. 
 Our copy seems, however, to have disappeared from the Library. At least 
 it is not in Mr. Mason’s Catalogue of 1888, although it was duly entered in 
 that of 1833. 
 
 He had Sir James Tyrrell’s “ General History of England,” a Whig history 
 but full of curious and important matter. He did not, however, possess the 
 counterpart, “ The Complete History of England,” by Robert Brady, the champion 
 of Toryism. Probably his political principles did not permit of it. This work 
 has not yet been added to the Library, but it is hoped that some kind friend will 
 make good the omission. “The truth is,” says Dibdin, “that Tyrrell’s history, 
 together with that of Brady, is indispensable to an historical collection of any 
 extent.” According to Dr. Gilbert Stuart, who hated all Scottish historians 
 except himself, Hume’s history is founded upon that of Brady. 
 
 Hobbes seems to have been a favourite with Stirling. H e has his “ Leviathan ” 
 as it originally appeared in 1651, and his translations of Homer and Thucydides. 
 
 He had several editions of the Bible. Amongst them were Grafton’s, of 1541, 
 and Barker’s, of 1585, both in black letter. Barker’s, of 1606 and 1630, and 
 Gaultier’s New Testament, of 1550. The Bible of 1541 is the Great Bible, with 
 Cranmer’s preface, in double columns, sixty-five lines to a full column. 
 Although the title page bears the date 1541, the colophon is dated November, 
 1540.* The edition of 1585 is a reprint, under the superintendence of Archbishop 
 Parker, of the Geneva Bible of 1560, commonly known as the “ Breeches 
 Bible.” The edition of 1606 is likewise the Geneva version, which, from 
 1560 to 1630 was the most popular Bible in England, and by far the most 
 approved version in Scotland, exceeding in its number all the other translations 
 put together. That of 1611, which we now know as the authorised version, was slow 
 in making its way. The earliest edition of it which Mr. Stirling had was Barker’s 
 quarto of 1630. Gaultier's New Testament is an interesting and well printed 
 volume. It is Tyndale’s translation, with the translation of Erasmus in Latin. 
 
 See Note A, page 15, 
 
7 
 
 “ Whereunto is added a Kalendar, *and an exhortation to the reading of the 
 Holy Scriptures made by the same Erasmus with the Epistles taken out of the 
 Okie testament both in Latin and Englyshe.” Mr. Stirling likewise had the 1749 
 edition of the Rhemish version of the New Testament, with the annotations of 
 Bishop Challoner. 
 
 He was an admirer of Thomas Fuller, the wittiest writer of a witty age, and 
 had his “ Church History of Britain,” which includes the history of the University 
 of Cambridge and the history of Waltham Abbey ; “The History of the Worthies 
 of England,” “ The Historic of the Holy Warre,” “ The Holy [and the Profane] 
 State,” and “ A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine,” all of the first editions, with the 
 exception of the “ Holy Warre,” which was the second (Cambridge, 1642, fob). 
 
 Amongst others of his more interesting volumes were, “ The Workes of our 
 Ancient and learned English poet Geoffrey Chaucer newly printed ” in black 
 letter, London, 1598 fob ; “The History of Guicciardin reduced into English ” by 
 Sir Geoffrey Fenton — a busy translator and active politician, and Secretary of 
 State for Ireland, — which was printed by Thomas Vautroullier dwelling in 
 Blackfriers, by Ludgate, 1579. Then there was “The Disputation concerning the 
 controversit Headdis of Religion, haldin in the Realme of Scotland, the zeir of God 
 ane thousand, fyve hundreth fourscoir zeirs, Betuix the praetendit Ministers of 
 the deformed Kirk in Scotland, and Nicol Burne, Professor of philosophie in S. 
 Leonardis College in the Citie of Sanctandrois, brocht up from his tender eage in 
 the perversit sect of the Calvinists, and now be ane special grace of God, ance 
 member of the holie and Catholik Kirk. Dedicat to his Soverane the Kingis M. 
 of Scotland, King lames the Saxt. . . . Imprented at Paris the first day of 
 October, 1581.” He also had “The true Crucifixe for True Catholickes, or the 
 Way for true Catholickes to have the true Crucifixe” by Sir William Moore of 
 Rowallan, printed by John Wreittoun at Edinburgh in 1629. Wreittoun was 
 Zachary Boyd’s publisher, and in this same year printed for him “ The Balme of 
 Gilead ; ” also “ Two Orientall Pearles Grace and Glory ; ” and “Two Sermons ” 
 but none of these or ‘ ‘ The Last Battell of the Soule in Death ” which also 
 appeared in 1629, found their way into Mr. Stirling’s hands. 
 
 The additions made to the Library by the Directors were, for many years, 
 books of the type and character suggested by the founder. Fiction was 
 conspicuous by its absence in his collection. The only work of the kind that he 
 possessed was “Le Diable Boiteux” of Le Sage. He had not a copy of “ Robinson 
 Crusoe,” “ Gulliver’s Travels,” or “ The Vicar of Wakefield,” or even of “ The 
 Loves of Poliarchus and Argenis.” He had none of the novels of Fielding, or 
 Richardson, or of Tobias Smollett, whom he most probably knew when he was an 
 apprentice with Dr. John Gordon, who was Dr. Stirling’s partner in sundry 
 mercantile ventures. Nowadays, first editions of celebrated novels are regarded 
 both as rare and curious books, and are eagerly sought after by collectors, and 
 
8 
 
 bring long prices in the market. Such a thing was unknown in Stirling's day. 
 The idea that the first edition of “Roderick Random” would ever fetch £70, 
 would to him have been inconceivable. And as little could any one, who 
 remembers the publication of “ Sketches by Boz,” have imagined that it would 
 sell for £38 17s. 6d. 
 
 Many of the novels of the eighteenth century were unfit for family reading, 
 and all were looked upon as ephemeral productions not worthy of a place 
 in a well appointed library. There were then three circulating libraries in 
 Glasgow, and Mr. Stirling probably thought that they were sufficient to supply 
 the inhabitants of Glasgow with such works of fiction as they might desire. The 
 oldest of these libraries was that of John Smith, founded as far back as 1753, 
 and kept “ at the George Buchanan’s Head, facing the Laigh Kirk, Trongate.” 
 The second was kept by Archibald Coubrough, on the west side of High Street, 
 a little above the Cross. The third had been carried on by James Spencer, in 
 Gallowgate, but in January, 1791, it was transferred to Joshua Noble, who con- 
 tinued it in a shop nearly opposite the Tron Church, under the name of “ The 
 Glasgow New Circulating Library.” Noble, it may be mentioned, at the same 
 thne purchased the library of the Rev. William Thom, of Govan, and sold it off 
 in detail.* Circulating libraries had then no very good reputation. According 
 to Sir Anthony Absolute “a circulating library in a town is an evergreen tree of 
 diabolical knowledge.” Dr. Strang says the stock of the Glasgow libraries 
 consisted “chiefly of such novels and romances as were- afterwards known under 
 the appellation of the ‘spawn of the Minerva press.’ ”t This statement is too 
 strong. The libraries, no doubt, provided their readers v/ith novels and 
 romances, but they were likewise well furnished with works of a solid and 
 instructive character. John Smith, for instance, in September, 1788, announces J 
 that amongst the additions just made to his library of 6,000 volumes were 
 Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Abbe Grosier’s “ Description 
 of China,” “The Transactions of the Royal Society of Edmburgh,” Savary’s 
 “Letters on Egypt,” and his “ Letters on Greece,” Lavater’s “Physiognomy.” 
 The readers in the New Circulating Library had choice of such books as Bruce’s 
 “Travels” in 5 vols. 4to., Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” Kame’s “Elements 
 of Criticism,” Foucroy’s “Chemistry,” and Bell’s “Surgery.” 
 
 Another and much more important kind of library is the Subscription Library. 
 One had been founded at Kelso as far back as 1751. There w’ere others at 
 Greenock, Edinburgh, and elsewhere in Scotland, and there were several large 
 and important ones in England. The Glasgow Public Library^ W’as of this 
 
 * The Glasgow Advertiser, 21st January, 1791. 
 
 t “Glasgow and its Clubs,” p. 129 (Hrd Edition). The distinguishing feature of the novels of 
 the Minerva press was an over-dose of sentiment — an intricate plot with -plenty of tears. See N. 
 & Q., 7th S. iii., 48, 155, 393. Also, Forsyth, “ Novels and Novelists of the Eighteenth Century,” 
 11 . 31?. The Mineiwa Press carried on its business on the south side of Leadenhall Street. 
 
 I The G'usooio Mercury, 9th September, and 9th December, 1788. 
 
 § Amalgamated with Stirling’s Library in 1871. 
 
9 
 
 description, and was instituted in December, 1804, and’ >it>’ fir^t cia^ailogue was 
 published in 1810, nineteen years after the foundation ^1/i^hng^SoIiibrary. The 
 choice of books made by the curators no doubt fairly represents the taste of the 
 reading public of the day. There is a considerable amount of fiction, but the 
 collection was principally composed of books similar to those in Stirling’s Library: 
 — Bayle’s “Dictionary,” the “Encyclopaedia Britannica,” and “Biographia 
 Britannica,” the Histories of Hume, Henry, Guthrie, Gibbon, Turner, and the 
 like, the old “ Statistical Account,” Halhed’s “ Gentoo Laws,” Vattel’s “ Law of 
 Nations.” Elocution seems to have been a favourite exercise of the time, as 
 several works upon the subject were provided for the subscribers— those of Chap- 
 man, Guthrie, Sheridan, Walker, and others. One of them, the “ Chironomia ” of 
 the Rev. Gilbert Austin (London, 1806, 4to), is a very curious and interesting 
 book.* It is an elaborate treatise on rhetorical delivery, and treats of the voice, 
 countenance, and gesture; the stroke, the time, classification, preparation, tran- 
 sition, and accompaniment of gesture; of the frequency, moderation, intermission 
 and analogy of gesture, and so on. 
 
 Women’s Rights had not emerged in 1810, but woman herself was an object of 
 as much interest as at present, and two books were selected by the curators for 
 readers interested in the subject. These were Dr. William Alexander’s “ History 
 of Women” (London, 1779, 4to, 2 vols.), and the “Essay on Old Maids” (third 
 edition, London, 1793, 12mo, 3 vols.), by William Hayley, the friend of Cowper. 
 Both authors trace their subject “ from the earliest antiquity to the present time.” 
 Dr. Alexander commences with a sketch of the antediluvian history of women; 
 and Hayley indulges in sundry conjectures concerning the history of old maids 
 before the deluge. Such thoroughness of treatment reminds one of Sir Thomas 
 Urquhart, who traces his genealogy back both on the father and the mother’s side 
 to Adam and Eve. Dr. Alexander’s work is well worth perusal. It is full of 
 information, with a good deal of folk lore, and incidental notices of the social 
 habits of last century. 
 
 The fiction supplied to the readers in the Glasgow Public Library was, as a 
 rule, of a much more robust character than that of the Minerva Press. Amongst 
 the older writers whose works were purchased were Richardson, Fielding, 
 Smollett and Sterne. Amongst the later were Oliver Goldsmith, Miss Edge- 
 worth, Mrs. Opie, Miss Burney, Miss Owenson, Madame de Genlis, Madame 
 Cottin, Misses Sophia and Harriet Lee, Clara Reeve, Anna Kerr, Charlotte 
 Smith, Mrs. Hamilton, Hannah More, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Henry Mac- 
 kenzie, William Godwin, Robert Semple, J. H. Ireland, and our own Dr. John 
 Moore. The same authors figured in the circulating libraries with the addition of 
 
 * There was an older book under the same title by John Bulwer, “ Chironomia; or the Art of 
 Manuall Rhetorique ” ; . . . . with Types or Chirograms : a new illustration of this argument. 
 London, 1644, 8vo. This is a separate treatise, but is appended to his “ Chirologia, or the 
 Natural Language of the Hand. Composed of the speaking motions and discourting gestures 
 thereof.” 
 
Hugh Kelly, Rev^ Churle? Lucas, Jane Marshall, Thomas Holcraft, John Heriot, 
 and others. < . , , ' , ; 
 
 Novels of all kinds were excluded from Stirling’s library for many years. The 
 library, however, was intended for the benefit of the citizens of Glasgow, and it 
 was found that if this, the primary object of the donor, was to be carried out, the 
 principle of exclusion could not be continued, and that fiction must find its place 
 in the library along with other classes of literature. This has been done for 
 several years, the works selected being those of the best authors, and as far as 
 possible of a representative character. Some people seem to think that the only 
 books to be read are novels, and that a public library should provide an inexhaust- 
 ible supply. The average life of an ordinary novel is said to be about six months, 
 and the circulating libraries are constantly getting rid of old stock by the cart-load. 
 This we cannot do. If the library is to be of permanent value and interest, novels 
 must be retained after their popularity has passed, just as much as poetry, history, 
 and philosophy. Some of the novels which appear in the original Catalogue of the 
 Glasgow Public Library are not now to be found in the library. The probability 
 is that they were sold ; but this should never be permitted in a public library. 
 One of the principal objects of such a library is to preserve literature of all kinds, 
 however trivial or unimportant it may appear at the time. An old broadside 
 ballad may now bring its weight in gold ; and just so pamphlets and loose sheets 
 which may seem fit only for the waste-paper basket, may be of far greater interest 
 to future generations than the books we esteem most highly. Not the least 
 fascinating article in Jonathan 01 dbuck’s library “ was the original broadside — 
 The Dying Speech, Bloody Murder, or Wonderful Wonder of Wonders — in its 
 primary tattered guise as it was hawked through the streets, and sold for the 
 cheap and easy price of one penny, though now worth the weight of that penny 
 in gold.” 
 
 John de Lancastre, the Mysteries of Udolpho, Hermsprong, Evelina and 
 Camilla, the Bravo of Venice, and the Castle of Otranto, may be unknown by 
 the present generation, but they are absolutely necessary to the student of 
 literature, and a library without the works of Richard Cumberland, Mrs. 
 RadclifFe, Robert Bage, Miss Burney, or Horace Walpole, would be as 
 incomplete as the ordinary reader would consider it if it did not possess 
 the novels of Sir Walter Scott or George Meredith. Old novels like old 
 school books, rapidly disappear, and it is a great convenience to be able to 
 go to a library such as ours and get what you want. For the last ten years I 
 have been in search of “The Castle Builders: or, the History of William 
 Stephens of the Isle of Wight, lately deceased; a Political Novel,” 1759, 8vo., 
 but I have not observed a copy advertised in any of the hundreds of booksellers’ 
 catalogues which I have passed through my hands during that time. For the 
 student, Ballantyne’s “Novelists’ Library” is a most useful collection. It is one 
 
11 
 
 of those books “that no library should be without.” It was published before 
 the Directors began to purchase fiction, and it is not in the Library. It is a want, 
 however, which some good Samaritan can easily supply ; and if he is in the 
 mood he might add Harrison’s “Novelists’ Magazine,” Bentley’s “Standard 
 Novels,” and Ritchie’s “ Library of Romance. ” 
 
 The funds at the disposal of the Directors are limited, and their purchases 
 of fiction are of necessity comparatively small, as other and more important 
 departments of literature have to be regarded. The aim of the Directors is, as 
 far as may be, to make the Library representative of all literature. To get all 
 books is impossible, to get most of the best books is not beyond our powers with 
 a moderate assistance from the public. 
 
 Donation, it must be remembered, is one of the principal sources of the growth 
 of libraries. “ The British Museum (though supplied from the public revenue 
 with the means of buying books) owes its principal literary treasures to donation. 
 So do our colleges and almost all our local libraries. A large proportion of the 
 books in foreign libraries have been contributed by individuals.”* Stirling’s 
 Library has been much indebted for gifts of books, many of them very valuable ; 
 but in recent years donors have devoted themselves to the more recent establish- 
 ment on the other side of the street, and much that in ordinary course would have 
 come to Stirling’s Library has found its way to the Mitchell Library. What a 
 friend gets is not lost ; but at the same time, one rather prefers in such a case to be 
 the friend, and I would venture to remind book-collectors and book-givers that 
 Stirling’s Library still exists, and is in need of all the assistance it can get. What 
 we would all desire to have are works of first-rate importance ; but passing by 
 these I may say that there are few, if any, books that would come amiss. It is 
 extraordinary how many blanks there are even in the best appointed and 
 wealthiest libraries, and, of course, there are vastly more in such a library as 
 this. We do not propose to set up a professional library, but we have some 
 medical works. For instance, we have the works of Fabricius of Acquapendente, 
 the predecessor and teacher of Harvey, the “De Motu Animalium” of Giovanni 
 Alphonso Borelli, and Keill’s “Account of Animal Secretion,” all important 
 works in the history of physiology, especially of the vascular system ; but 
 Harvey’s own work, “De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis,” which is a necessary link 
 and of which there is a good Glasgow edition,! is awanting. Some medical friend 
 may perhaps remember us when he comes across a copy. 
 
 * “ Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Public Libraries,*’ p. xi. 
 
 t 12 mo. Glasgow, 1751. Pp. x, 2 unnumbered 299. It was printed by Robert Urie, and 
 is a beautibil piece of typography. 
 
 Another medical book of Walter Stirling’s is “Celsus De re Medica.” 8vo, Glasgow, 1766. 
 2 parts. It was printed by William Bell, and has an engraved title page with a portrait of 
 Celsus, which was probably executed in the Foulis Academy of the Fine Arts. 
 
 The editor was Dr. Andrew Morris, of whom the stoiy goes (so Mr. Duncan, the Librarian of 
 the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons’ Library, tells me) that he reduced the art of living to 
 the point that one straw per day sufficed for his horse and a single raisin for himself, with the 
 result that he was seizt d with jaralysis and became a pensioner on the Faculty for more tharr 
 thirty years. The book is dedicated to the Faculty. Si e ‘ Glasgtw, Past and I resent.” Vol I. 
 p. 350. 
 
 UBtARY 
 
 DNIVERSmr tP lUinah 
 
12 
 
 Everyone has been interested in Mr. R. L. Garner’s visit to Africa to study 
 the monkey language. As I have referred to Fabricius, I may mention that he 
 •wrote an instructive monograph on the language of brutes, which is in his 
 Collected Works in the Library. His experiments were made on dogs and hens, 
 and he was just as satisfied as is Professor Garner that the inferior animals have a 
 language of their own by which they can communicate with one another, and 
 which man may learn. 
 
 We have a fair number of the classics in the Library. Every new edition that 
 is added is of advantage. Many people seem anxious to get rid of their Greek 
 and Latin authors. May I remind such that we shall be glad to have them — 
 even if they be but school editions. Old histories, books of travel and guide 
 books, are often found to be in the way. When they are, let the owners remember 
 Stirling’s Library. If the books are unsuitable we shall say so. We will not 
 accept with thanks, and then convert them into cash or exchange them for other 
 books, as some libraries do — a practice, it seems to me, wholly indefensible, and 
 which must certainly injure the library that adopts it as soon as it is found out. 
 The elderly maideir lady who presents her handsome copy of “Scott and Henry’s 
 Bible” will hardly care to recognise herself as the donor of Mrs. Aphra Behn’s 
 Works, and the staid Elder who is courteously thanked for the gift of Hr. 
 Chalmers’ W orks will be sadly disconcerted when the next Report credits him 
 with the gift of a complete set of Bohn’s extra volumes. 
 
 Then there are local publications. The Corporation might, I submit, send us 
 copies of everything they print — the Minutes of the Town Council and the various 
 Committees, the annual Accounts, special Reports, Acts of Parliament, Provi- 
 sional Orders, and the like. What I would suggest is, that a copy of each should 
 be laid aside, and the parcel delivered to us quarterly or half-yearly. There are 
 next, the reports and other documents of the Merchants’ House, the Trades’ House, 
 the Clyde Trust, the School Board, the Parochial Boards and the Presbyteries of 
 the vaiious churches, the Lanarkshire County Council, and the burghs of Govan 
 and Partick. It is of the utmost importance that all public documents relating to 
 the City and neighbourhood should be preserved. Many of these come to the 
 Library, but only in a haphazard fashion, and there is no series complete. This 
 should be remedied at once, and an effort made to complete broken series. 
 
 Members of Parliament receive, or are entitled to receive upon application 
 copies of all public papers, many of which are of the greatest interest and import- 
 ance. W e have seven representatives in Parliament, who all profess the greatest 
 eagerness to promote the well-being of the citizens of Glasgow. In no way can 
 they more readily do so, than by presenting Stirling’s Library with a selection of 
 such blue books as they do not personally require. 
 
 In 1853, a Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended that 
 Parliamentary papers should be sent free of charge to free public libraries, but the 
 
13 
 
 recommendation has never been carried out in its entirety. Some libraries are 
 favoured, and others are neglected. It has always seemed to me, that H.M. 
 Stationery Office should put Stirling’s Library upon the list of Institutions entitled 
 to receive copies of all Government publications. I believe that there is some 
 red-tape rule which stands in the way of gifts to libraries which lend out their 
 books, but it cannot be of universal application, as the University Library, the 
 Advocates’ Library, and many others receive Government publications, although 
 they are lending libraries.* 
 
 That Stirling’s Library is a lending library appears to me to be one of its 
 merits, and one principal reason of its great usefulness. “ Many men, in order to 
 derive the fullest advantage from books, must have them not only in their hands, 
 but in their homes. A great Public Library ought, above all things, to teach 
 the teachers ; to supply with the best implements of education those who educate 
 the people, whether in the pulpit, the school, or the press. The lending out of 
 books, therefore, which is a general characteristic of foreign libraries, should be 
 an essential element in the formation of our own.”t In the original scheme of 
 the London Library it is said — “We propose to establish a library which, con- 
 taining books in every department of literature and philosophy, shall allow those 
 books to be taken out and read, where they can be read best — in the study and 
 by the fireside — and which shall offer its advantages to the public on terms 
 rendering it generally accessible.” This is the scheme of Stirling’s Library. The 
 subscription is so small as to be almost nominal. The University Libraries 
 require a subscription from graduates and members of council, who are a limited 
 class, but form a considerable proportion of their readers. None but members of 
 the Faculty are entitled to borrow books from the Advocates’ Library, and at 
 their admission they contribute a lump sum to the library funds. Stirling’s 
 Library is open to all. No right of property in the Library is acquired by 
 subscription, but the books remain the property of the institution, just as the 
 books in the University Library remain the property of the University notwith- 
 standing the payments made by readers. The Advocates’ Library, which enjoys 
 the privilege of getting free of charge, all books entered at Stationers’ Hall, is 
 the private property of the Faculty. 
 
 That Stirling’s Library lends out its books instead of being treated as a dis- 
 qualification should be considered a strong ground for entitling it to Government 
 publications. Rate-supported libraries are treated inuch more favourably, and 
 receive such books graMs. Why the inhabitants of a place which has a free 
 library should be punished because it does not require a public rate for the 
 support of that library, is not easy to understand. As a reference library 
 Stirling’s is as free, open, and accessible as any rate -supported library in the 
 
 * See Note B, page 18. 
 
 t “ Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Public Libraries,” p. xii. 
 
14 
 
 kingdom. To obtain the privilege of borrowing books a small subscription is 
 recpiired, which confers far greater advantages than any ordinary rate-supported 
 library can give. The subscription, too, is voluntary. Those only pay who 
 desire to take books home with them, whereas in the case of the rate -supported 
 libraries everyone must pay whether he uses the library or not. 
 
 Very few institutions in the country have effected so much good as Stirling’s 
 Library. Its usefulness is always extending. The number of students and 
 readers who resort to the reading-room is increasing, and every day there are 
 juore books to read or to consult. But more and more are needed, and I 
 trust that the citizens will bear us in mind, and hold out a helping hand. 
 “I should advise any man or woman,” says the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, 
 “ to give money, time and energy to building up the library of the neighbourhood, 
 rather than build up his own, even if he were only thinking of the advantage of 
 his own family.”* Large sums of money are constantly being given for educational 
 purposes, but no institution has more of an educational character than a library 
 such as Stirling’s. “The true university of these days,” says Carlyle, “is a 
 collection of books.” One of the functions of a public library is to provide means 
 for carrying on the education which has been begun at school or college, for 
 enabling every inquirer to pursue a definite course of study or to investigate any 
 subject that may interest him for the time. The universal educator is the library. 
 Walter Stirling well knew that his bequest was inadequate fully to accomplish 
 what he had in view, “the constant and perpetual existence of a Public Library 
 for the citizens or inhabitants of Glasgow,” but he laid the foundation and trusted 
 to the liberality of those who should come after him to carry on the work. His 
 Deed of Gift contemplates donation as one of the sources from which the library 
 is to be maintained. Donations below £10, he suggests, should be treated as 
 income, “but any donation above that sum in money is to be lent out and the 
 
 interest arising therefrom applied in the purchase of books 
 
 yearly, except the donors shall give other directions, whose directions respectively 
 must be sacredly obeyed.” 
 
 *See Note C, page 18. 
 
15 
 
 Note A. 
 
 Cranmer’s Bible. 
 
 As there is some difficulty in identifying the various editions of the Cranmer’s 
 Bible it may be of interest to give some account of the copy in Stirling’s Library . 
 
 {^Principal Title Page.'\ 
 
 The Byble in / Englyshe of the largest and grea/test volume, auctorised 
 and apoynted / by the commaundement / of oure moost / redoubted prynce and 
 soueraygne Lorde, / Kynge Henry the . viii. supreme head / of this his churche 
 and realme of / Englande : to be frequented and / vsed in euery church vhin 
 this his / sayd realme, accordynge to the / tenoure of hys former In= / junctions 
 geuen in / that behalfe. / 
 
 m. Ouersene and perused at the co= / mandemet of the kynges hyghnes, / the 
 ryght reuerende fathers in God / Cuthbert bysshop of Duresme, and Ni= / colas 
 bisshop of Rochester. / 
 
 Printed by Rycharde Grafton. / 
 
 Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum. / 1541. / 
 
 [Colophon] 
 
 mL The ende of the newe Testament / and of the whole Byble. Enyshed in 
 Nouember. / Anno. M.CCCCC.XL. / 
 
 / A dno factu est istud. / 
 
 The title is printed in black and red lines alternately, except the twelfth 
 and thirteenth and the seventeenth and eighteenth, which are both black. The 
 date and the preceding line are also both in black. The whole is enclosed in 
 the beautiful woodcut border which has been attributed to Hans Holbein. 
 
 The text is in double columns, 65 lines to a full column. 
 
 The book is divided into five parts, each with a separate engraved title page, 
 except the first, which has the principal title page as above. 
 
 On the verso of the principal title page is “ The names of all the bokes of the 
 Byble”/ . . . Then follows “The Kalender” on four pages *ii. and *iii. 
 
 The Prologue and some other preliminary matter should follow, but the pages 
 are awanting in this copy. 
 
 The text of Genesis commences on the recto of signature A. It begins with 
 a large ornamental letter I as in the editions of November, 1540, and November 
 and December, 1541. 
 
 Part I. begins on folio i., and ends with Deuteronomy on the verso of 
 folio Ixxij.; signatures a, i. to L, viij. 
 
 Part II. begins on folio ii., and ends on the recto of folio cviij., with Job; 
 signatures A, ij. to Q, iiij. 
 
 Part III. begins on folio ii. , and ends on the recto of folio cxvi. , with Malachy ; 
 signatures AA, ij. to PP, iiij. 
 
 Part IV. begins on folio ii , and ends on the verso of folio marked Ixxii. in 
 mistake for Ixx., and contains the Apochrypha. The title page of this part bears 
 “The iiij. part of the Byble.” The signatures are Aaaa, ij. to lii, vj. 
 
IG 
 
 Part V. begins on folio ii., and ends on the recto of folio xcij., and contains 
 the New Testament. The signatures are Aa, ij. to Mm, iiij. 
 
 On the verso of folio xcij. of this part and on the page which follows, 
 numbered in error Ixxxix., recto and verso is “A Table to find the Epystles and 
 Gospels usually red in the churche, after Salysbury use.” Then follows the 
 Colophon already quoted. 
 
 Mr. Francis Fry has giv^en^ a collation of the various editions of the 
 Cranmer’s Bible to assist in their identification. 
 
 The present copy seems to correspond with tlie edition of November, 1540, 
 with some variations. Part II. is apparently differently set, e.r/. 
 
 Sth’ling’s Library Copy. 
 
 and in earth beneth 
 Now 
 
 Edition of November, 15'40. 
 Part II., f.2, thy mouth, and 
 des in ue that th 
 onely be stron 
 [La>it linen of Chap. /.] 
 
 Part II., f.9, hem rest rounde 
 sware unto th 
 
 Part II., f.l7, solepne offryng 
 
 reioyse ; for they 
 
 Part II. , f . 25, Ad it fortuned 
 na Has the Son 
 {First lines of Chap. X/F.] 
 
 Part II., f.3.S, men wont all 
 
 daye, and came 
 {Last lines of Chap. //.] 
 
 31 ii 
 
 {This is about the middle of Chap. 
 II. In this copy Chap. I. ends on 
 the second column of this page.~\ 
 
 rest rounde about 
 sware vnto theyr fa- 
 thers 
 
 solepne offryng unto 
 reioyse ; for they sayd ; 
 
 Our 
 
 and dypte it in 
 to his mouth 
 
 and his 
 
 {This is about the middle of Chap. 
 XIV. In this copy Chap. XIV. 
 begins on the first column near the 
 middle.'X 
 
 Michol Sauls dough 
 to se me 
 
 And 
 
 (£ 
 
 {This is the end of the second para- 
 graph of Chap. III.] 
 
 Ahia the prophet 
 come Jeroboa 
 
 howe 
 
 Part II., f.49, Aha the Pro 
 cocerne Jero 
 
 (g h 
 
 * “Description of the Great Bible, 1530 and the six editions of Cranmer’s Bible, 1540 and 
 1541, printed by Grafton and Whitchurch ; ” . . . London, 1865. Folio. 
 
17 
 
 In Part II. there is no folio marked xxx., but two are marked xxxi and 
 xciij. is by mistake marked xcj. 
 
 In Part III. there is no folio marked cvj., and two are marked cv. 
 
 In the title of Psalm cxxiij. the letter c is omitted, making it Psalm xxiij. 
 
 Psalm cxxxiij. omits at the end “ and life for evermore.” 
 
 In Part IV. there is no folio marked vij. but folio viij. occurs twice ; folio xi. 
 is marked Ixi. ; folio xx. is by mistake marked xxiij., and the proper xxiij. 
 appears in its right place ; there is no folio marked xxxiij., but two are marked 
 xxxiiij.; there is no folio marked xlv., but two are marked xlvj.; there is no 
 folio marked xlviij., but this is a typographical error, there is no page a wanting ; 
 folio Ivi. is marked xlix. ; there is no folio marked Ixvij., but two are marked Ixviij. 
 
 Part V. is wrongly paged. Folio Ixxxv. is omitted and folio Ixxxvi. appears 
 twice. Folios Ixxxvij. and Ixxxviij. are omitted and folio Ixxxix. appears twice, 
 once in the text and again in the last page of the Table, as already referred to. 
 There are thus three folios in this Part all numbered Ixxxix. 
 
 Mr. Henry Stevens mentions * that of The Great Bible, commonly called 
 Cranmer’s Bible, there were, during the years 1539, 1540, and 1541, seven 
 distinct editions, reprinted throughout, but so closely resembling each other 
 that of five of them the leaves of each begin and end alike, and are often 
 used, ignorantly or dishonestly, to make up each other. The same similarity 
 exists between the two other editions. There is little difference in the com- 
 mercial value and bibliographical interest of the seven editions. Any one of 
 them, complete, genuine, and in good condition, is an ornament to any library, 
 public or private. Indeed, perfect copies are much rarer than is generally 
 supposed. Mr. Lea Wilson, in our days a most indefatigable collector of Bibles, 
 was so extremely fortunate as to possess the whole seven editions, every one of 
 them perfect or very nearly so. It was a labour of years to complete them. 
 But his labours were crowned with success, and six of these magnificent volumes 
 (all but the edition of 1539, a perfect copy of which was already in the library) 
 Mr. Panizzi added, after Mr. Wilson’s death, to the Library of the British 
 Museum, at the moderate price of £80 each. His copy of the edition of 1539 was 
 sold for £121 in Mr. Gardner’s sale to Mr. Smith, and is now in the Huth 
 Library. The Earl of Crawford’s copy of the same edition fetched £111 at his 
 sale in 1887. In the same sale a copy of the edition of November, 1541, printed 
 by Edward Whitchurche was purchased by Mr. Quaritch for £50, and is priced 
 (No. .38,075) in his General Catalogue at £70. 
 
 Mr. Fry has inserted in his copy of Whitchurche’s edition of 1540 (now in the 
 British Museum, c. 18, d. 8) a facsimile of the last page (folio Ixxxix) of the 
 Stirling’s library copy as a variety differing from others. 
 
 * “ The Bibles in the Caxton Exhibition,” p. 81. London, 1877. 8vo. 
 
IS 
 
 This copy belonging to the Stirling’s librar 3 ’’ is in good condition, and with 
 the exception of the two folios of the Prologue is perfect. As the various 
 editions were so variously made up it is possible that these folios were never 
 inserted in this copy. 
 
 Note B. 
 
 Government Publications. 
 
 I observe that the Home Secretary has given instructions that copies of 
 local and personal Acts of Parliament be supplied gratis to the Libraries of 
 the Incorporated Law Society of England and of the Incorported Law Society 
 of Ireland, commencing with the Acts of this Session. These are not lending 
 libraries but their use is limited to the members of the Societies respectively. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 Donation in the United States. 
 
 Take but a single example : — 
 
 The Library Bulletin of Cornell University, of March last (1894), records the 
 gift of a remarkably rich and extensive Spinoza collection, thought to be the 
 largest in existence, from ex-President White ; some two hundred volumes of 
 works on Romance Philology, from Professor Crane ; and such additions to 
 Professor Millard Fiske’s “ Dante Collection” as to bring it up to nearly 3,000 
 volumes, and to constitute it ‘ ‘ undoubtedly the richest outside of Italy. ” The 
 Library has just issued a catalogue of Professor Fiske’s “ Rhaeto-Romanic 
 Collection,” gathered rapidly by the donor three years ago in the Tyrol. It fills 
 32 pages in double columns, and the collection, which has a curious linguistic 
 interest, probably has no rival in completeness.