The History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus.

rare survival from the library of Adam Smith

A rare survival from the personal library of the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and economist Adam Smith (1723-1790).

The Library:

Upon his death on 17th July 1790, Smith's library passed to his sole heir, David Douglas, Lord Reston (1769-1819). Reston lived until 1819, whereupon the library was divided between his two daughters Mrs Cunningham and Mrs Bannerman.

The Bannerman portion was donated intact to New College, Edinburgh (now housed in the University of Edinburgh Library). By contrast, the Cunningham inheritance was dispersed over a period of some 50 years, beginning in 1878 when part of the collection was sold upon the death of Cunningham's husband. Further sales are recorded in the early 20th-century, with a large contingent (some 141 items) bought by Professor Nitobe of Tokyo University in 1920 (and subsequently donated to the University). A retained portion of the collection was donated by Cunningham's son Professor R.O. Cunningham to Queen's College, Belfast on his death in 1918.

With regards to the size of Smith's library. 'MacCulloch, who saw the books before the dispersion, reckons their number at 5000. Dugald Stewart says Adam Smith possessed "a small but excellent library, which he had gradually formed with great judgement in the selection"... The whole collection was more probably 3000 than 5000' (Bonar). The most thorough catalogue of Smith's library to date (see Hiroshi Mizuta, Adam Smith's Library (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2000)) records 1808 individual works.

Book's from Smith's library can now be found in institutional holdings at Edinburgh University (898 titles), Tokyo University (148 titles), Queen's College, Belfast (110 titles), Glasgow University (68 titles), New York Public Library (5 titles), Nihon University Law Library (4 titles), Keio University (2 titles), Kyoto University Library (1 title), and Reading University Library (5 titles).

The Book:

The first edition of David Hume of Godscroft's History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus.

Smith was related to the Douglas family through his mother Margaret Smith (née Douglas), a granddaughter of the prominent fife landowner and member of parliament, Sir William Douglas of Kirkness, a descendant of the Earls of Morton. The library would eventually be inherited by Smith's young cousin David Douglas, Lord Reston.

Hume's History is listed in the original 1781 manuscript catalogue of the library at Panmure House, where it is to be found 'Lying on the Top' of the 'Books in the Locked Press'. It is further recorded in James Bonar's A Catalogue of the Library of Adam Smith, p.52, (London, Macmillan and Co., 1894), and by Professor Hiroshi Mizuta in his up-to-date catalogue, which lists this work (item 832) as one of the known-unknown 'unlocated' books.

Annotations & Marginalia:

An old printed auction lot description tipped-in to the front pastedown makes reference to a manuscript list of page numbers located on the front pastedown of the book. These correspond to distinctive horizontal ampersand-form annotations scattered throughout the second part of the work where the family name 'Hume' occurs. The note speculates that this could relate to Smith's intimacy with the philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), however, in our opinion these annotations likely pre-date Adam Smith's ownership of the work.

By contrast, a single, unique one-word marginal annotation 'Apolug' in a later hand appears on p.265 in a passage quoting the speech made by Smith's ancestor Sir George Douglas (d.1552) promoting the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England in which he '"told them of the apologue of the ass"' (p.265).

Given the context of this passage and its relevance to Smith's family history, as well as the hand's outward similarity to marginal annotations found in Smith's copy of Locke's Two Treatises (held by Kirkcaldy Museum), which have been attributed to Adam Smith himself (see C. Smith, Adam Smith's library: recent work on his books and marginalia', The Adam Smith Review, vol. 11, 2018), this annotation is worthy of further study and research.

A further inscription is found on the fore-edge margin of pp102, 106, 298 and 396 relating to a previous owner: 'George Dickson His Book the Year of God 1747'.

First edition, from the library of Adam Smith; folio (26 x 18.5 cm); MS page notes in pen, bookplate, and tipped-in auction lot description to front pastedown, loose MS pen note, pencil ownership inscription to front free endpaper recto, distinctive horizontal ampersand-form pen marginalia corresponding to page numbers noted on front pastedown, dated ownership inscription for 'George Dickson' to fore-edge of the verso of ff P1, P3, 2Q4 and 3F1 (partially obscured on all ff but P3), early pen annotations to 2D6 recto, later pen annotation in different hand to 2M4 recto, lacking front blank f. and final 2ff of text, title soiled with closed tears and lower portion repaired, first few ff torn at lower corner with slight loss to text, intermittent dampstaining; contemporary half glazed marbled paper, vellum corners coloured to match, rebacked, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece to spine, joints expertly restored; [16], 211, [3], 205-436pp.

ESTC R398; Bonar p.52; Mizuta 831 ('unlocated').