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Glasgow University Library


Address. Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QE, Scotland [Map]
Telephone. (0141) 339-8855
Fax. (0141) 330-4952
e-mail. [enquiries@lib.gla.ac.uk]
Internet. Library: http://www.lib.gla.ac.uk/index.html; Special Collections: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/ index.html; Manuscripts information and catalogue: http:// special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/

Governing body or responsible institution. Glasgow University
Function. Universal research library.
Subjects. All subjects.

Access. Visitors' tickets are issued to those who wish to use the library's collections for reference purposes. Graduates of Scottish universities are eligible to join the library on payment of an annual subscription, which confers borrowing rights. Special Collections Department: visitors are advised to write in advance to the Department to ensure that the materials they wish to consult can be made available at a convenient time. Opening hours for the Library: (termtime) Monday to Friday 9 a.m. - 9.30 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 7.30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. - 9.30 p.m.; (vacation) Monday to Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 12.30 a.m., Sunday closed. Note that vacation opening hours vary, particularly at weekends; it is safer, if visiting the library during vacations, to check the opening hours in advance. Opening hours for the Special Collections Department: (termtime) Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. - 8.30 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 12.30 a.m., Sunday closed; (vacation) Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 12.30 a.m., Sunday closed. The library is closed additionally on 1-2 January, on the Saturday preceding and the Monday following Easter, on the Saturday and Monday of the Glasgow Fair Weekend in July, the Saturday and Monday of the Late September Holiday, and 25-26 December.
Printed information. A guide to the major collections in the Department of Special Collections. 3rd ed. Glasgow 1995. - See also Internet sites listed above.
Special facilities. Computer terminals, both in clusters (for teaching purposes and for student use) and for access to the online catalogue. Some of the latter terminals are designated as MERLIN workstations, which also provide access to networked CD-ROMs, to teaching packages, and to Internet resources. Not all of these facilities, however, are available for the use of visitors. Certain areas, including Special Collections, are designated for the use of portable computers. - Microfilm and microfiche readers, card-operated self-service photocopying facilities, and stand-alone CD-ROM resources. Some services, such as document delivery (inter-library loan) and mediated database searching, are not available to holders of visitors' tickets.
Travel directions. From Queen Street railway station to the University by underground, from Buchanan Street station (adjacent) to Hillhead. The library is five minutes' walk uphill from Hillhead. Bus services 20 and 66 from the south side of George Square to the foot of Hillhead Street (about three minutes' walk uphill). From Central railway station, the closest underground station is St. Enoch. Bus services 44 and 59 from Hope Street to the University, near the library. - Car-parking is severely restricted at the University. There is limited public car-parking off Great George Street near Byres Road.

1. HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY AND ITS COLLECTIONS

1.1 The earliest mention of the library dates from 1475. This is in the form of two recorded donations of parchment and paper volumes by Bishop John Laing, the University's Chancellor, and Duncan Bunch, designated Principal of the Pedagogy (later the College of Arts). Of these, the donation by Bunch is perhaps more interesting in this context: he had studied at Cologne and one of the volumes gifted was a set of Quaestiones by John Elmer (Athilmer), who taught at Cologne and became the first provost of St. Salvator's College in St Andrews. There is no record of any survival of these early volumes, and contrary evidence that books accompanied teachers who moved elsewhere - for example, in a copy of Quintilian (Venice 1494) now at Aberdeen. The earliest surviving donation, though its presence in the library has probably not been continuous, is a copy of Sallust (Lyon 1521). The library seems therefore to have grown fitfully during the 16th century, and it is only after the refounding (``nova erectio') of the University in 1577 that its holdings were developed more systematically. In that year and in 1578, there were two significant donations, the first being of a Protestant Latin Bible (Biblia, interprete Sebastiano Castalione, Basel 1556), donated by Andrew Hay, the then Rector. The second was a donation by the Scots humanist scholar and poet George Buchanan of works in Greek, including a copy of Aristophanes (Venice 1498). These are recorded, with other donations and purchases, in a manuscript book entitled Catalogus librorum communis bibliothecae Collegii Glasguensis; this book is preserved in the University Archives (Munimenta, vol. 3, pp. 407 ff., see below 4.2) together with others in varying states of fullness (see below 3.2). 1.1

1.2 Other significant donations in the later 16th and 17th centuries are detailed in John Durkan's survey of 1977 (see below 4.2 ). They helped to steer the collections in more diverse directions: Protestant theology, geography, law, logic and also a small number of medical works, including herbals. Together with such donations there was a more systematic attempt to purchase books with funds from graduates. An agency for buying books from the Continent was established through William Spang, who bought books on behalf of the University at Amsterdam. The first librarian, Andrew Snype (d. 1686), was appointed in 1641. Snype was responsible for drawing up the first inventory catalogue; the first catalogue with locations to survive, however, is that of 1691 (see below 3.2). This and other inventories show a total of about 2,000 vols, but this is substantially underestimated, and the correct figure is thought to be more than 3,000. A separate (surviving) donation book was started in 1692 (see below 4.1).

1.3 During the following century, the library was able to grow more quickly thanks in large measure to the Copyright Act of 1709, which laid down that the library should be provided with a copy of each work tered at Stationers' Hall; this privilege continued, however, only until 1836, when an annual grant was substituted. By 1791, when for the first time a printed catalogue was issued, prepared by Archibald Arthur and printed by the Foulis Press (see below 3.2 ), the number of volumes had reached 20,000. In 1807 the library received its most notable donation, the bequest of the physician William Hunter (1718-1783); this consisted of 10,000 printed books and 650 MSS, many illuminated. Other significant donations during the 19th century are noted below. One hundred years after the previous catalogue the library's collections had expanded to about 126,000 vols.

1.4 The library moved twice within a century: first from the Old College in the High Street to the new University buildings on Gilmorehill in 1871; second in 1968, to occupy a new purpose-built library, designed by William Whitfield and housed in a striking, though not wholly practical, building, which is in some ways typical of its decade. Subsequent extensions in the 1980s and 90s have provided welcome new space, but vitiated the original design. In 1997 a new suite for the Special Collections Department, with enhanced storage and reading-room facilities, was opened on the topmost level.

2. OUTLINE OF THE COLLECTIONS

Chronological outline and analysis by language

2.1 The library currently contains more than 1.7 million printed volumes and 200,000 MS items. Incomplete conversion of the older catalogues to an online format makes it necessary to offer estimated figures, particularly for the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time of completing this survey, there were on-line records for 203 incunabula; about 4,600 16th-century items; 16,600 17th-century items; 20,000 18th-century items; 43,000 19th-century items. The true figures for the last two are probably nearer 27,000 and 130,000 respectively. The estimated number of printed volumes in the Special Collections Department is 200,000. The estimated number of German-language items or German imprints prior to 1901 (excluding periodicals) is 16,500.

Subject outline

General collection

2.2 There are no collections in the library which are specific to German themes (other than the named class ``German' for German-language philology and literature) or which are restricted to German imprints. A Chair of German in the University was not established until 1919 (although a part-time lectureship existed from 1887 onwards), and the formation of the Department played no distinctive part in the development of the collections which this survey covers. Apart from the separate collections discussed below (2.7 ff.) all of which are housed in the Special Collections Department, the 19th-century tradition of German scholarship is strongly represented in the library - particularly in classical philology and archaeology, philosophy, theology, and in the publications of the academies. Much of this 19th-century material has been transferred from the open shelves to the Historical Collection, and is stored on a remote site. It is available for consultation on prior notice.

2.3 Although in general the library's manuscript collections lie outside the formal scope of this survey, they require some mention here. The library has the best collection of Greek manuscripts in Scotland, mediaeval manuscripts (such as the Hunterian Psalter) of international significance, and a wide range of other more recent manuscript and archive material. There are unexpected treasures, such as Mozart's penultimate letter to his wife (dated October 1791 and describing the Viennese première of Die Zauberflöte), part of a donation of Mozartiana which belonged to the Czech musician Wenceslas Zavertal. It should be noted that archival material more closely related to the history of the University is likely to be found in the University Archives.

2.4 Another general aspect of the library's collec-

tions which should be recorded is their varied

illustrative material: this ranges from illuminated manuscripts, through emblem books, political caricatures and early photographs to the programme books and other illustrative material in the Scottish Theatre Archive, the latter including productions of German plays (see below 2.21).

Dictionaries

2.5 These are to be found throughout the library's antiquarian collections, in significant numbers; more than 500 items with pre-1850 imprints have previously been identified. Apart from language dictionaries, there is a wide range of historical subject dictionaries. More work on this significant resource is required to determine the precise quantity of German imprints or German-language material. There are, however, important examples of Aramaic, Hebrew and Syriac dictionaries: copies of Sebastian Münster's Aruch seu Dictionarium Chaldaicum (Basel and Heidelberg 1527) and Dictionarium Hebraicum (Basel 1539); the 17th-century Aramaic and Hebrew dictionaries by Heinrich Opitz and Johann Buxtorf; and the Syriac dictionary by Aegidius Gutbier (Hamburg 1667) in three copies. There is also a copy of Emilio Porto's Dictionarium Doricum Graeco Latinum (Frankfurt 1603).

Incunabula

2.6 Apart from the 67 German incunabula listed in the catalogue of William Hunter's library by Mungo Ferguson, there are a further 55 which have been identified to date during the retrospective conversion of the catalogue records of other collections. To these may be added 34 incunabula from Basel and Strasbourg presses. When they are included the number rises to 156. The earliest example, from Hunter's library, is a copy of Cicero's De officiis and Paradoxa (Mainz 1465); this copy, rebound about 1700 and restored in 1981, contains a manuscript sheet on which Hunter notes differences between it and the 1466 copy, heavily annotated and printed on vellum, also in his library. From collections other than Hunter's, the corresponding example is a copy of Aquinas's Summa theologica, pars secunda, printed by Peter Schoeffer (Mainz 1467). There are examples in the following collections: Euing (34), Hamilton (3), Murray (7), Old Library (10), Trinity College (1). These include a fine copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493, with a manuscript insertion suggesting 16th-century Danish ownership.

Named collections

2.7 Ritchie (see below 5) discusses some of these collections in greater detail than can be attempted here; he includes the Euing, Ferguson, Gemmell (cited as ``Gemmel'), Hamilton, Hunterian and Stirling Maxwell (cited as ``Pollok') collections. His survey predates the acquisition of several other collections, and the move to the present library building, which gives it, in some ways, a valuable period flavour. It should also be noted that some collections have been augmented by the acquisition of related items of importance; this applies in particular to Ferguson, Gemmell, Hunter and Stirling Maxwell. -

An asterisk against the name of a collection indicates that part, or all, of the collection has been converted for machine-readable access.

Blau*

2.8 This collection consists of 193 Hebrew books, mostly theological, which were originally part of the library of Professor Ludwig Blau (1861-1936), director of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Budapest. They were purchased by the University in 1937. Although most of the books were printed in Italy, and notably in Venice, there are 25 with German imprints. The two earliest examples, on Jewish law, date from 1610 and were both printed in Hanau. A further example from Hanau dates from 1628. The number of German imprints from each century is six from the 17th, 16 from the 18th, and three from the 19th. One of the finest examples is the 1740 Leipzig edition of the Book of Prophets with the Latin translation of Sebastian Schmid.

Caricatures*

2.9 In 1980 the library purchased, with the help of grants from the Local Museums Purchase Fund and the National Art Collections Fund, a collection of more than 3,000 political caricatures, mainly lithographs. Their subject-matter is the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune of 1871. The set was originally part of the Lindsay family library assembled by successive Earls of Crawford and Balcarres. It is described in outline in the printed catalogue of the library (see below 3.3). The collection was sold in 1947 and subsequently acquired by the historian J. P. T. Bury (1908-1987). Most of the caricatures are by French artists. 158 are taken from German sources, however, including newspapers or journals published in Berlin and Leipzig.

Civil and canon law*

2.10 This collection of 262 commentaries, principally on civil law, concentrates on 16th-century Italian imprints, although there are a few German examples; the earliest of these is Pierre de Belleperche's Commentaria in Digestum Novum (Frankfurt 1571). The collection was purchased in 1938.

2.11 The library of John Eadie (1810-1876), Professor of Biblical Literature in the United Presbyterian College, Edinburgh, was purchased for the library of the College by Thomas Biggart after Eadie's death; it was thereafter transferred to the United Free Church College (later Trinity College) in Glasgow and came thence to the University Library in 1974 with the other collections from Trinity College. Originally the collection contained more than 7,000 vols; about 300 of these are early printed books, housed in the Special Collections Department. These volumes include some rare bibles. There are three German imprints from the 16th century and a further 21 from the 17th. The former include a copy of Johannes Cochlaeus's Commentaria de actis et scriptis Martini Lutheri ([Mainz] 1549) and two of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark) reprinted from Elias Hutter's polyglot New Testament (Nuremberg 1599-1600).

Euing*

2.12 The major 19th-century bequest to the University Library was made by William Euing (1788-1874). It consisted originally of two parts: a general collection of 12,000 vols (including 130 incunabula); and a collection of Bibles, psalters and hymn books with a further 3,000 vols (and including 24 incunabula). The third part, Euing's music library, was originally bequeathed to Anderson's College (now the University of Strathclyde) and was transferred to Glasgow University Library only in 1936. The riches of the collection, on the whole, lie outside the field of German studies or book production; its most important features are to be found in English literature (many important first editions, including a Shakespeare First Folio) and British or French fine printing. Euing was also interested in fine bindings and in a range of other subjects: travel, architecture, angling, Scottish history, temperance and vegetarianism. It is in the collection of Bibles, as well as the important music library, that the most significant German material is to be found. The 34 incunabula have already been noted; they include a copy of the 1478 Latin Bible printed in Nuremberg, with the book plate of the Elector's Library in Munich and marginalia in German. Among the 16th-century German imprints is the 1597 Würzburg edition of the works of St. John Fisher (Ioannis Fischerii Roffensis ... opera). Included among the 16th-century Bibles is a copy of Luther's Bible (Frankfurt 1565) and the rare Slovenian Bible printed in Wittenberg in 1584 (Biblia, tu je, vse svetu pismu, Stariga inu Noviga Testamenta, Slovenski, tolmazhena, skusi, Iuria Dalmatina = Bibel, das ist, die gantze heilige Schrifft Windisch). The Euing Music Library includes several German imprints before 1750, the most important example being a copy of Ein hubsch new Gesangbuch (Ulm 1538; preface by Michael Weisse) which was once owned by J. S. Bach and was presented by his son C. P. E. Bach to Charles Burney in 1772. There is also a copy of the 1559 Leipzig edition of Luther's Geystliche Lieder and of Friedrich von Spee's Trutz Nachtigal, oder Geistlichs-poëtisch Lust-Waldlein (Cologne 1654).

Ferguson

2.13 John Ferguson (1837-1916) was the Regius Professor of Chemistry at Glasgow from 1874 until 1915. The part of his library relating to alchemy and related subjects, such as witchcraft, gypsies and secret societies, was purchased in 1920; it included some 7,500 printed books (including 104 incunabula) and 317 MSS (36 in German). Ferguson was a bibliographer of note - he compiled a bibliography of editions of Theophrastus von Hohenheim - and his papers are included in the collection. There are important holdings of Paracelsus and of Agrippa von Nettesheim, and works relating to the history of witchcraft; an example of these is Spee's Cautio criminalis (Sulzbach 1695), a copy once owned by the Austin Friars at Würzburg. Many of the volumes are illustrated, including the alchemical verse treatise Quinta essentia by Leonhart Thurneisser zum Thurn (Leipzig 1574) and Lazarus Ercker's Beschreibung allerfurnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Bergkwercks arten (Frankfurt 1598). Although the main collection has, at the time of this survey, not been incorporated into the online catalogue, the additions have been; these alone include 9 German imprints from the 16th century - an example being Johann Schöner's Opusculum astrologicum (Nuremberg 1539) - and 25 from the 17th century.

Gemmel*

2.14 This small collection (76 vols) of editions of the Dance of Death and associated works was bequeathed by William Gemmell (1859-1919) and has been augmented. There are 3 German imprints from the 16th and 17th centuries; the earliest of these is the miscellany Imagines mortis, with editorship attributed to Gilles Corrozet and including a translation into Latin by Georg Aemilius (Cologne 1557).

Hamilton*

2.15 Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856) was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh. His library was purchased by public subscription and presented to the University of Glasgow in 1878. It contains about 8,000 vols, with an emphasis on his own discipline (logic, aesthetics, history of philosophy). W. A. Kelly has characterised the loss which this represented to Edinburgh (see try for the National Library of Scotland, 1.7), for the collection has strength in diversity. There are several early editions of Kant, Fichte and Schelling which testify to Hamilton's interest in contemporary German thought. The philosophical collection is supported by an important collection of editions of classical texts or commentaries and Latin poets of the 16th century, notably George Buchanan. The earliest German imprint in the collection is a copy of Bede's Repertorium sive tabula generalis auctoritatum Aristotelis (Nuremberg 1491?).

Hunterian

2.16 The library of William Hunter (1718-1783) was bequeathed to the University along with his collections of coins, medals, anatomical and natural history specimens, which now form the core of the Hunterian Museum, and his paintings, an important constituent part of the Hunterian Art Gallery. The collections, including the printed books (some 10,000) and manuscripts (650), were not received into the ownership of the University until 1807. Hunter's library, developed over a 40-year period up to his death, is undoubtedly one of the finest 18th-century collections to have survived intact. The printed books include 534 incunabula, of which 67 are identified as German imprints in the catalogue by Mungo Ferguson (see Incunabula, 2.6). Sixteenth-century imprints number more than 2,300 and over 120 of these are German. Among them is a copy of Livy translated into German (Mainz 1505) with a fine frontispiece, showing the presentation of the book to the Emperor Maximilian I, and other woodcut illustrations. About one third of the collection is concerned with medicine, but the remainder reflects Hunter's broad interests: other sciences, vernacular literature, travel and exploration, and the history of printing and bibliography. It is difficult to pick isolated items from a collection which is so broad in its interests, but one should perhaps note, apart from the Livy mentioned above, another book associated with Maximilian, the semi-autobiographical work compiled by his secretaries under the title Die Geuerlicheiten und eins teils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen und hochberümbten Helds und Ritters Herr Tewrdannckhs (Nuremberg 1517). Reflecting Hunter's own medical interests are the works of his contemporary Albrecht von Haller, several of which were published at Göttingen. These include a set of the Icones anatomicae (1743-1756, 8 fascicules).

Mearns

2.17 This is another of the collections which (like Eadie) came to the Library with the transfer of the Trinity College Library in 1974; in this instance, the collection is on permanent deposit. It consists of some 2,000 works on hymnology collected by James Mearns (1855-1922), who revised the Dictionary of hymnology by John Julian. There is at present no full catalogue of the collection other than a typescript subject catalogue compiled by G. H. Rolland in 1968, which divides the collection into broad subject headings, such as the Eastern Church or Western Church, Medieval (Latin). Subdivision, reflecting the aspects of the collection, is made into biographical sources, collections of texts (breviaries, missals, etc.; miscellaneous collections; translations), histories and collections of sources. There are about 60 items which can be identified as German imprints from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Of these, perhaps the most interesting as a group is a series of a dozen or more local Gesangbücher from North Germany, mainly from the 18th century, but including one 1695 example from Lüneburg.

Monro*

2.18 This collection comprises printed editions of the works of Sir Thomas Browne, the 17th-century physician and author of Religio medici. The collection was a bequest of Thomas Kirkpatrick Monro (1865-1958), Professor of the Practice of Medicine. It includes 7 German/Swiss imprints (in 9 copies), with 2 copies of the German translation of Browne's Pseudodoxia epidemica (Frankfurt 1680).

Murray

2.19 David Murray (1842-1928), a Glasgow lawyer, with strong interests in local history and antiquities as well as bibliography, presented most of the collection himself in 1927. There are more than 23,000 printed items (including much printed ephemera, such as broadsides and newspaper cuttings). These include an important collection of Glasgow imprints of the 17th and 18th centuries, among them many fine examples of the work of the Foulis Press, as well as much material on the history of Glasgow and its University. Murray also collected continental imprints and there are important examples of German printing from the 15th to the 17th centuries, including 7 incunabula. The number of 16th-century examples is approximately 80, with double this number for the following century. Two significant aspects are first, the collection of grammatical works which includes grammars and other compendia by Alexandre de Villedieu, Theodorus Gaza (Introductionis grammaticae libri quatuor, Cologne 1525) and Nicolas Cleynaerts; second, the collection of legal texts, including the Sechsisch Weichbild und Lehenrecht (Leipzig 1547).

Old Library*

2.20 The Old Library is the core of the early library collections, since it includes the 20,000 vols that had been purchased or donated by the time of the 1791 catalogue (see below 3.2). Some class and departmental libraries which had their origins in the 18th century were transferred to the library during the following century and form a supplement to the Old Library. The earliest German printed book in this collection is Nicholas de Lyra's Postille morales ...super omnes libros Sanctae Scripturae (Cologne 1478), and this contains the library's exlibris dated 1727.

Schlesinger Papers see under Trotsky

Scottish Theatre Archive

2.21 The Archive was founded in 1981 with funding from the Scottish Arts Council. Its twofold remit is to preserve Scotland's theatrical heritage by providing a safe home for archival material and maintaining a record of such material held in other public archives as well as to promote interest in this field of research. Among the most significant collections is that of the Citizens' Theatre, which has had a strong interest in German-language playwrights. The collections of the Archive include printed programmes, rehearsal scripts, production notes, photographs, posters and press cuttings, correspondence, business and financial papers, stage designs and some sound recordings. There is material relating to 18 productions of 14 separate plays by Brecht. Other important productions of German plays (mostly 20th century) include Büchner's Danton's death and Woyzeck, works by Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Goethe's Faust and Torquato Tasso, Hochhuth, Hofmannsthal, Karl Kraus' The last days of mankind (produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1983), Lenz, Schiller, Schnitzler, Botho Strauss and Wedekind's Lulu.

Simson*

2.22 This collection of approximately 850 vols contains mainly early mathematical or astronomical texts from the library of Robert Simson (1687-1768). Simson was Professor of Mathematics at the University from 1712 to 1761, and his research concentrated on the early Greek theorists; he published work on Euclid, Pappus and Apollonius of Perge. The collection includes several notable German editions, including Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Nuremberg 1547).

Stirling Maxwell*

2.23 After Hunter's library, this is the most important donation which the library has received, since it forms a collection of emblem books and associated device literature which is scarcely matched elsewhere. The collection was formed by Sir William Stirling Maxwell (1818-1878) over a period of some forty years and consisted of some 2,000 items. It was bequeathed to the library in 1956 under the terms of the will of Sir John Stirling Maxwell (Sir William's son) and received in 1958. The chronological range of the collection spans the period from 1531 (the first edition of Alciati's Emblems) to the 19th century. German, Austrian and Swiss imprints are strongly represented with about 390 separate titles or editions. The collection also includes fête books, and books of medals and allegorical figures. Because of the international significance of the collection, and the research interest it now attracts, the library has made regular and important additional purchases. These now exceed 600, although this number includes facsimile editions or studies of emblem literature, an area which the collection itself has done much to promote. Apart from the early editions of Alciati, there is strong representation of the work of Daniel Cramer, Johann Michael Dilherr, Jeremias Drexel, Anton Ginther, Georg Philipp Harsdörffer and Johann Saubert. Johann Arndt's Bücher vom wahren Christenthum was originally represented by 5 editions; there are now no fewer than 12. The collection coincides at various points with the interests of other named collections, notably Ferguson; this is seen clearly in the various works of Michael Maier, the German alchemist and poet. Some more miscellaneous publications in the collection relate to what Stirling Maxwell himself designated the ``arts of design'; accordingly there is a collection of early printed books on architecture and works by important artists and gravers. Two significant items are the Augsburg 1496 Herbarius zu teütsch and the 1527 Nuremberg edition of Dürer's Etliche Underricht zu Befestigung der Stett, Schloss und Flecken.

Tischendorf*

2.24 This is the personal library of the German biblical scholar Lobegott Friedrich Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874), who discovered and published the Codex Friderico-Augustanus (Leipzig 1846). The library was purchased, after his death, for £460 from money raised by Thomas Martin Lindsay and Alexander Bruce for the Free Church College (subsequently Trinity College), and was transferred to the University Library in a similar manner to the Eadie and Mearns collections in 1974. Apart from copies of Tischendorf's own publications, there is a substantial number of early printed bibles or works on biblical criticism, including an annotated and illustrated copy of Luther's New Testament (Wittenberg 1533). The copy of Luther's 1522 New Testament in Tischendorf's library is imperfect. These are supplemented by Lutheran pamphlets and controversial works relating to the Reformation, such as Robert Barnes's Sentenciae ex doctoribus collectae, quas papistae valde impudenter hodie damnant (Wittenberg 1530). A further important category is the collection of Near Eastern travel writings and guides which Tischendorf amassed as a result of his frequent travels in that part of the world. An example of this category is Felix Fabri's Eigentlich Beschreibung der hin unnd wider Farth zu dem heyligen Landt gen Jerusalem ([Frankfurt?] 1557).

Trinity College*

2.25 As has been noted separately under the descriptions for Eadie, Mearns and Tischendorf, the library received the entire library of Trinity College Glasgow in 1974. The College was founded in 1856 as a theological college, serving the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland. By the time of the transfer, the library consisted of more than 75,000 vols and some 14,000 pamphlets, together with a card catalogue of the collection. Within the collection are more than 3,000 books printed before 1801; the Church of Scotland retained formal ownership of these books, and they were accordingly placed on permanent deposit in Special Collections. The earliest German printed book is a copy of the 1494 Nuremberg Psalter. There is inevitably some overlap between the College's collection and that of Tischendorf, both in the subjects covered and in particular works. There are some works which are descriptive of the Near East, such as Leonhard Rauwolf's Aigentliche Beschreibung der Raiss so er vor diser Zeit gegen Auffgang inn die Morgenländer ... (Lauingen 1583), with handcoloured woodcuts. The Reformation is again strongly represented, and there are general histories including a set of Matthias Flacius Illyricus's Ecclestiastica historia (Basel 1560-1574).

Trotsky

2.26 In 1983 Louis Sinclair, author of the standard bibliography of Trotsky first published in 1972, donated his extensive collection of works by and about Trotsky to the University Library. This donation included some 1,800 editions or translations of Trotsky's works, in 40 languages, as well as extensive secondary sources. The collection has subsequently been augmented by a further donation from the widow of Isaac Deutscher (Trotsky's biographer). Apart from German editions of Trotsky (20th century), there is some significant material on the history of the Fourth International, including copies or originals of serial publications such as Der einzige Weg. It should be noted that the library's collections for this period have been further augmented by the donation in 1991 of Rudolf Schlesinger's papers (Schlesinger was a co-founder of the University's Institute of Soviet and East European Studies and editor of the journals Soviet studies and Co-existence).

Veitch

2.27 This collection of printed editions of mediaeval scholastic philosophers, or of general works on philosophy and logic was formed by John Veitch (1829-1894), Professor of Logic in the University. There are about 700 vols of which just over 100 are German imprints; the chronological range is from the 15th to the second half of the 19th century. Of the 24 incunabula in the collection, 7 are German or Swiss imprints: these include Johannes Versor's Questiones in totam novam logicam (Cologne 1497) and Reparationes librorum tocius naturalis philosophie secundum processum Albertistarum et Thomistarum (Cologne 1494).

3. CATALOGUES

3.1 General catalogues

Online catalogue, with Telnet and Internet access

[all items acquired or catalogued retrospectively since 1980]

Sheaf-slip author and partial title catalogue (``catalogue 2')

[closed after 1979; available on microfiche in the library]

Guardbook author catalogue (``catalogue 3')

[closed in 1968; available on microfiche in the library]

Special Collections: whereas by no means all the stock is available in the online catalogue, the collections of the Special Collections Department are currently being transferred systematically to machine-readable form, and substantial progress has been made. Much of the retrospective conversion is being undertaken from existing shelf register copies of the full catalogue entries, with reference to the printed volumes where necessary. An asterisk against the name of a collection (see above 2.7ff) indicates that part, or all, of the collection has been converted for machine-readable access.

Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) [The University is a member of CURL, and all its library holdings recorded online are included in the COPAC union

 catalogue:  http://copac.ac.uk/copac/.]
3.1

3.2 Historic catalogues

Catalogus librorum communis bibliothecae Collegii Glasguensis [records donations and purchases for the period from 1578 to 1619; Glasgow University Archives (GUA) 26619]

Catalogus librorum communis bibliothecae Collegii Glasguensis [in a contemporary hand, contains only the early portion to 1582; the level of description and arrangement varies; GUA 26614]

Catalogus librorum communis bibliothecae Collegii Glasguensis [different in arrangement; written in a 17th-century hand and provides a continuation up to 1699; GUA 26778]

Catalogue of the library. 1691 [Ms Gen. 1312-1313]

Arthur, Archibald: Catalogus impressorum librorum in Bibliotheca Universitatis Glasguensis, secundum literarum ordinem dispositus, Catalogus impressorum librorum ...secundum pluteorum ordinem dispositus. Glasgow: Foulis Press 1791

[The entries from this catalogue were subsequently incorporated with later additions and amendments into the guardbook catalogue (see above 3.1).]

3.3 Special catalogues

Printed catalogues of individual collections:

Alchemy/Ferguson

Paracelsus. A catalogue of works published 1529-1793 preserved in Glasgow University Library. Catalogue prepared by David Weston. Glasgow 1993

Caricatures

Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Vol. 1: Catalogue of the printed books preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan ...A-D. Aberdeen 1910, col. 1392 [contains description of the caricatures]

Civil law

Catalogue of a collection of civil and canon law books in the University of Glasgow. [Catalogue prepared by K. R. Thomson; preface by W. R. Cunningham.] Glasgow 1949

Eadie

Catalogue of the library of the late John Eadie ..., presented to the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church by Thomas Biggart Esq., of Baidland Hill, 15th May 1877. Edinburgh 1878

Euing Musical Library

The Euing Musical Library: catalogue of the musical library of the late Wm Euing, Esq., bequeathed to Anderson's University, Glasgow. Glasgow 1878 [This part of Euing's library was transferred to Glasgow UL in 1936.]

Ferguson

Catalogue of the Ferguson Collection of books mainly relating to alchemy, chemistry, witchcraft and gipsies in the library of the University of Glasgow. [Catalogue prepared by K. R. Thomson and M. M. Service; preface by W. R. Cunningham.] 2 vols. Glasgow 1943; with 1955 supplement

Hunterian

Ferguson, Mungo: The printed books in the library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow. A catalogue. [with a topographical index by David Baird Smith]. Glasgow 1930

Incunables

The incunables are recorded in the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC)

Mearns

Draft of a catalogue of books on Psalters, hymns, and hymnology in [the] National Library of Scotland Edinburgh, Aberdeen University Library, New College Library Edinburgh, Trinity College Glasgow. Edinburgh 1939

[a union catalogue prepared by the Church of Scotland's Committee on Public Worship & Aids to Devotion]

Stirling-Maxwell

Black, Hester M.: A short title catalogue of the emblem books and related works in the Stirling Maxwell Collection of Glasgow University Library (1499-1917). [Catalogue originally compiled by Hester M. Black; ed. and revised by David Weston.] Aldershot 1988

Trinity College: pamphlets

Pegg, Michael A.: Bibliotheca Lindesiana and other collections of German sixteenth-century pamphlets in libraries of Britain and France. Baden-Baden 1977 (Bibliotheca bibliographica Aureliana 66)

Bibliographical indexes for imprints, provenances, illustrators and engravers, STC, Wing, ephemera, bindings etc. are available in the Special Collections Department.

Exhibition catalogues:

Alchemy/Ferguson

An exhibition of books on witchcraft and demonology. Glasgow 1966

The damned art. An exhibition of books relating to the history of witchcraft and demonology drawn mainly from the Ferguson Collection. Glasgow 1985

Caricatures

The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune in caricature. Glasgow 1981 3.3

Donations

500 years of donations. An exhibition of manuscripts and printed books. Glasgow [1975-76]

Euing etc.

Three Glasgow book collectors: William Euing, 1788-1874, John Ferguson, 1837-1916, David Murray, 1842-1928. Glasgow 1969

Euing Music Library

Musicke of sundrie kindes. Glasgow [1978]

Hunterian

The scientific Renaissance. An exhibition of books printed mainly in the sixteenth century. Glasgow 1968

William Hunter, 1718-1783: book collector. Catalogue of an exhibition compiled by Jack Baldwin. Glasgow 1983

Illustrated books

Splendours and miseries. An exhibition of festival books and commemorative albums. Glasgow 1967

Stirling-Maxwell

Emblem books. An exhibition of books and manuscripts. Glasgow 1965

A choice of emblemes. An exhibition of books from the Stirling Maxwell Collection. [Introduction and catalogue by David Weston.] Glasgow [1985]

Sir William Stirling Maxwell and the European emblem. Catalogue by David Weston. Glasgow 1987

Tischendorf

Konstantin von Tischendorf: biblical scholar, 1815-1874. Glasgow 1974

Trotsky

Trotsky. A display of material from the University's Trotsky Collection. [Introduction and catalogue by David Weston.] Glasgow 1987

4. ARCHIVAL SOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY

4.1 Archival sources

Donation Book of 1692 [Ms Gen. 1110]

4.2 Publications

Munimenta Alme Universitatis Glasguensis. Records of the University of Glasgow from its foundation till 1727. 4 vols. Glasgow 1854

Dickson, W. P.: The Glasgow University Library. Notes on its history, arrangements and aims. Glasgow 1888

Durkan, John: The early history of Glasgow University Library, 1475-1710. In: The Bibliotheck 8 (1977) pp. 102-126

5. PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE COLLECTIONS

Asplin, P. W.; Baldwin, J.: Tischendorf's library. In: Matthew Black; Robert Davidson (eds.): Constantin von Tischendorf and the Greek New Testament. Glasgow 1981, pp. 79-91

Asplin, P. W.: Trinity and related collections in Glasgow University Library. In: Bulletin of the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries 2 (17) (1993) pp. 3-8

Baldwin, J.: The daughters of earth. In: The College Courant [University of Glasgow] 63 (1979) pp. 28-29 [on dictionaries]

Baldwin, J.: The Euing Collection. In: The College Courant [University of Glasgow] 57 (1976) pp. 11-14

Black, Hester M.; Gaskell, Philip: Special Collections in Glasgow University Library. In: The Book Collector 16 (1967) pp. 161-168

Black, Hester M.: The Stirling Maxwell Collection of emblem books in Glasgow University Library. In: The Bibliotheck 8 (1977) pp. 156-167

Caira, N. B.: The Euing collection in Glasgow University Library. A study. Unpublished dissertation, Department of Librarianship, University of Strathclyde, 1983 [copy in Special Collections]

Gaskell, Philip: A bibliography of the Foulis Press. 2nd ed. [Winchester] 1986

Harper, A. J.: Deutsche Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts in Edinburgh und Glasgow. In: Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten 13 (1986) pp. 13-17

Milne, Ronald: Glasgow University Library and its German resources. A sketch. In: German Studies Library Group Newsletter 4 (1988) pp. 3-7

Ritchie, J. M.: German books in Glasgow and Edinburgh, 1500-1750. In: Modern Language Review 57 (1962) pp. 523-540 [pp. 523-532, pl. 1-2 on Glasgow; 532-540 on Edinburgh] 5

Weston, David: Emblems at Glasgow. In: Library Association Rare Books Group Newsletter 31 (1988) p. 17

Whitaker, G. H.: Glasgow University Library. In: Guide to resources for German studies in Scottish research libraries, ed. by W. A. Kelly. Edinburgh: Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries, in association with Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1995, pp. 33-50

See also: A directory of rare book and special collections ...2nd ed. London 1997, pp. 649-651

April 1998

Graham Whitaker


Quelle: Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland. Digitalisiert von Günter Kükenshöner.
Hrsg. von Bernhard Fabian. Hildesheim: Olms Neue Medien 2003.