University of Glasgow

UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

 
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Image showing a view of the Old College (Glasgow University) from Slezer's Thatrum Scotiae, London, 1693 (Sp Coll Bi8-a.1)

 

Introduction

 

Classification

 

Library layout

 

Library Stock

 

Acquisitions

 

Conclusion


Image showing a view of the Old College (Glasgow University) from Slezer's Thatrum Scotiae, London, 1693 (Sp Coll Bi8-a.1)
 


The 1691 Catalogue of Glasgow University Library

Conclusion


It is difficult to draw too many conclusions from a work still in progress, however, a few points can be considered.

The catalogue entries do not record the titles of the books - this means there is work to be done in relating the entries to modern catalogue entries; the old entries also tell us something of how the librarians, and presumably the readers, of the late Seventeenth Century referred to the books they used.

The 1691 entries are for single volumes - this means care must be given to establishing the bibliographical status of the works constituting each volume, and hence calculating the number of separate, individual publications in the library.

It is not only the bibliographical details of the books which constitute the interest of the library. Details on the provenance, cost, size and binding of each work add to the sum of knowledge about the context in which the Library functioned.

Likewise information on the use of the books would be interesting - there is a wealth of information to be gleaned from the annotations, or lack of them in the books.

Finally, the arrangement of the books on the shelves must, itself, indicate something of the way in which knowledge was understood; or, to look at it another way, the way in which it was deemed appropriate to arrange knowledge.

 


Close up of the spine and binding of MS Gen1312-3

Image showing a view of the Old College (Glasgow University) from Slezer's Thatrum Scotiae, London, 1693 (Sp Coll Bi8-a.1)

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