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Treasure 36: Aberdeen City Libraries' First Book Sale, 24 February 1979
2327 National Libraries Day has been held every February since 2011 to celebrate and raise awareness of libraries, library staff and their communities all over the UK. It is an opportunity for libraries to showcase and promote what they have to offer and to attract as many visitors as possible to local libraries.
This month our selection from the Library archive brings the focus to a Library event the likes of which has never been seen before or since in Aberdeen City Libraries. The photograph shows the queue for the first ever Library book sale held in the Ballroom of the Music Hall on Saturday 24 February 1979, when well over a thousand people swarmed through the doors to grab a bargain. The Press and Journal covered the event with the headline: "Bonanza Day for Bookworms; bargain hunters pack the Music Hall".
In September 1978 the Aberdeen District Council's library committee agreed to a recommendation from City Librarian Peter Grant to hold a sale of more than 30,000 books which had been withdrawn from stock for various reasons. There was also considerable duplication of stock following local government re-organisation in 1975 when Aberdeen inherited six former county branch libraries.
Books were divided into three categories: Children's, Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction (including reference books) and prices were kept low at 20p for fiction books and non-fiction titles slightly more at 50p.
Best sellers included children's books purchased by play groups, out of date encyclopaedias and Whittaker's Almanacs, and bound volumes of National Geographic Magazine. By the end of the day, the event was deemed an overwhelming success, selling over 13,000 books and raising more than £3645 for the purchase of new stock.
The hard work and dedication of the Library staff was recognised by the Convener of the Library Committee Councillor Henry Rae who said "It turned out to be a resounding success and this was achieved by the dedication of the staff".
Aberdeen Market: before and after demolition 6
4365 The before image looks east towards the western elevation of Aberdeen Market. A cabin with seating for the restaurant Cafe 52 is in the foreground on the left. Taken on 01/09/2021.
The after image shows a now clear view over to Market Street. The distinctive façade of Rox Hotel, previously the Mechanics' Institute and Bon Accord Hotel, is in the distance. Taken on 05/09/2023.
This composite image is part of a series by Roddy Millar showing Aberdeen Market and its surrounds before and after it was demolished.
George Walker
4371 A photographic portrait by George Washington Wilson of Baillie George Walker (1821-1910). It comes from an album of photographs by Wilson of the Aberdeen Town Council of 1883. This is held in the collection of Aberdeen Local Studies at Aberdeen Central Library.
Walker, a good friend of Wilson, was a well-known bookseller, councillor and local cultural figure. He hailed from Huntly before moving to the Granite City.
At a meeting at the Music Hall on on 25th March 1884 Walker seconded the motion of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903), a philosopher, early psychologist and independent thinker, for the adoption of the Public Libraries Act by the Town Council. The motion passed with 891 voters in favour and 264 against.
Walker was one of a number of speakers at the opening of Aberdeen's first free public lending library in March 1886, then located in the Mechanics' Institute on Market Street. Praising the preparatory work done by the town's first librarian, Andrew W. Robertson, Walker stated that Robertson had "turned night into day in his efforts and that it was absolutely necessary that he takes a well-deserved holiday during the summer."
Walker remained a champion of the library service for the rest of his life. He donated his extensive 21 volume journal to the library and these remain in the Local Studies collection. These idiosyncratic volumes are a unique cornucopia of local history and culture. John Duguid Milne
4372 A photographic portrait of John Duguid Milne (1822-1889), an Aberdeen advocate.
On 20th March 1883 Milne read a paper titled The success of free public libraries in industrial towns, and the necessity for a free public library in Aberdeen to the Philosophical Society of Aberdeen. The paper was also published by the society as a pamphlet shortly afterwards. A copy of this paper is held by Aberdeen Local Studies.
Milne draws together the experiences of free public libraries from England and around Scotland. He also points to the example and popularity of John Anderson's library in Woodside, which had opened in 1881.
In the section 'Who should move for a free library?' Milne writes:
"The Free Library is not especially for the wealthy, nor even for the well-to-do, but for the people, for the industrial classes; and it is for the industrial classes themselves to say if they want it. They have also the power in their hands, as they form a majority of the ratepayers." (page 17).
Milne was the director and legal advisor of Aberdeen's Mechanics' Institute. He ends his paper by stating that should the Public Libraries Act be adopted by Aberdeen, the Mechanics' Institute was prepared to hand over to the Free Public Library their whole stock of books and their substantial premises on Market Street.
Milne's paper, and the offer within, was likely a determining factor in the initiation, and ultimate success, of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903) and Baillie George Walker (1821-1910) putting forward a motion for the adoption of the Public Libraries Act at a meeting in the Music Hall on 25th March 1884. This meeting took place around a year after the first reading of Milne's paper.
Opening in March 1886, the Mechanics' Institute building did become the first location of Aberdeen's new Free Public Library and its collection of books formed the core of its stock. If you look at some of the older items in the collection of Aberdeen City Libraries today, stamp marks for the Mechanics' Institute can still be seen. Bust of Professor Alexander Bain
4373 A photograph of a 1891 bust of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903) by sculptor Henry Bain Smith (1857-1893).
Alexander Bain was a philosopher, educationalist, early psychologist and free thinker. At a public meeting on 25th March 1884, he put forward the successful motion for Aberdeen to adopt the Public Libraries Act and create a Free Public Library. This noble enterprise would first open in the old Mechanics' Institute building on Market Street in March 1886.
Bain was an autodidact from an impoverished family. He had studied at the Mechanics' Institute prior to entering Marischal College so he knew well the importance and potential of libraries and public education.
A new purpose built Public Library for Aberdeen, now known as the Central Library, opened on Rosemount Viaduct on 5th July 1892. Two months after first being open to the public, with a Lending Department and Reading Room, a Reference Department opened on the second floor on 29th August.
Three days before this addition, the Library was presented with the first of a number of marble busts which would grace the Reference Department until the 1960s.
It was this bust of Alexander Bain, the professor of logic, who had been an early champion of Aberdeen's public library. The bust, funded by public subscription, was work of the sculptor Henry Bain-Smith. Bain-Smith was also the artist of the Burns Statue on Union Terrace.
The bust of Professor Bain is now in the collection of the Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums (AAGM), having been gifted by the Libraries in 1999. The entry for the bust on their online catalogue contains further details on Bain's life and work. Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute
149 In the early years, the Mechanics' Institute established its premises in various places across the city until 1834 when it was decided to build a permanent building for the institution. The Institute was able to erect its very own building to accommodate all its various activities including classes, the library and public lectures.
By 1845-46, sufficient funds were raised to allow the construction of a dedicated building in Market Street, opposite the New Market which opened a few years before. Its front elevation was designed by the Aberdonian Archibald Simpson and plans were proposed by his pupil, Mr William Ramage. It was the last public building in the city to be designed by the famous architect as he died not long afterwards. Rules and Regulations of the Mutual Instruction Class of the Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution
150 Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute was founded in 1824 to satisfy the public's thirst of knowledge. Courses of lectures were offered on philosophical, scientific, technical and art subjects.
This document, written by Al. Russell, Secretary, the 11th May 1836, gives the rules of the Mutual instruction class which was created.
Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute - Annual Public meeting
151 "Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution. The annual public meeting of the members and friends of this institution will be held in Machray's Hall (instead of Meston's Hall, as formerly advertised) on Friday evening first, at 8 o'clock".
Aberdeen, 1st November 1837 Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution - Orrery
152 Founded to satisfy the public's thirst of knowledge, the Mechanics' Institute aimed to deliver courses and lectures on philosophical, scientific, technical and art subjects. Courses were provided on a regular basis and, over the years, the Institute was visited by some of the keenest British minds of the 19th century.
Professional lecturers were keen to deliver talks on scientific and philosophical subjects. Astronomy was a popular topic and many lectures about "Orrery" were organised as part of the Institute's programme. The word "Orrery" comes from the name of Charles Boyle, fourth Earl of Orrery (1676-1731) and means "a mechanical model, usually clockwork, devised to represent the motions of the earth and moon (and sometimes also the planets) around the sun" (Oxford English dictionary). Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute
153 "The committee have resolved, as a stimulus to the Genius and Industry of the Members, to award the silver Medal of the Institution for the best Models of each of the following Machines that shall be presented to the Committee previous to the end of March 1827". Gratis lecture at Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution
154 Founded to satisfy the public's thirst of knowledge, the Mechanics' Institute aimed to deliver courses and lectures on philosophical, scientific, technical and art subjects. Courses were provided on a regular basis and, over the years, the Institute was visited by some of the keenest British minds of the 19th century. Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute - Winter session
155 By 1832, the usefulness of the institution was widened by the starting of evening classes bearing on the subject of lectures.
The Mechanics' Institute delivered classes on drawing, arithmetic, mathematics, English grammar, French, Philosophy and "Mutual instruction". Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute - Courses of lectures
156 Professional lecturers were keen to deliver talks on scientific and philosophical subjects. Astronomy was a popular topic and many lectures about "Orrery" were organised as part of the Institute's programme. The word "Orrery" comes from the name of Charles Boyle, fourth Earl of Orrery (1676-1731) and means "a mechanical model, usually clockwork, devised to represent the motions of the earth and moon (and sometimes also the planets) around the sun" (Oxford English dictionary). Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute - Astronomical lectures
158 The following article, extracted from the Aberdeen Journal, shows the popularity of the Mechanics Institute and its courses:
"There is not a more efficient educational institution in the city, with the same limited means, than the Mechanics' Institute; and to extand and enlarge its means is the object of these lectures. We can assure those who have not yet visited Morison's Hall, that nowhere will they find so much amusement blended with so great an amount of useful instruction, so much to delight the eye and ravish the ear, with so much to enlighten the understanding and improve the heart".
Aberdeen Journal, May 10, 1837.
Article cited in Aberdeen Journal, May 15, 1937 ("One hundred years ago"). Treasure 19: Chapbooks
190 Chapbooks were a form of popular literature produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Text was printed on both sides of a large sheet of paper which was then folded repeatedly to create a booklet of 8, 12, 24, or 32 pages, approximately 5 inches by 3 inches in size. The title page had a woodcut illustration which was not necessarily linked to the content of the chapbook but could be selected from illustrations already available in the printer's premises.
Their content was varied but included ballads, songs, folktales, jokes and riddles. They were produced in large numbers and favourite texts would be reprinted over and over again and even by different printers.
In rural areas and at markets and fairs, these little booklets were sold for a halfpenny or a penny by itinerant pedlars or chapmen who carried packs containing bootlaces, needles, thread, ribbons and other trinkets to appeal to their customers. The word "chap" probably derives from the Old English "ceapian" meaning to bargain or trade.
"Tullochgorum" is one of a series of 21 ballad chapbooks, each of 8 pages, printed by John Cumming, a merchant in Hatton of Fintray, about 10 miles north of Aberdeen. He had learnt the merchant business in Aberdeen but, when he returned to Fintray, he also set up a printing press. He sometimes included the music, as here, but for other ballads he only named a tune with which his readers would already have been familiar.
His other printing work included Alexander Watt "The Early History of Kintore" published in 1865 and James Dalgardno "Notes on the Parish of Slains and Forvie in the Olden Days" in 1876.
He died in January 1900 and is buried in the local churchyard.
The popularity of chapbooks declined as other forms of literature, including newspapers and magazines, became more accessible. The physical nature of these unbound flimsy pamphlets has meant that chapbooks have not survived in large numbers but Local Studies has a complete set of those printed by John Cumming bound together as one volume.
Collections of other Scottish chapbooks survive in various libraries and are becoming more available through online cataloguing and indexing while academic researchers are studying the role played by these small publications in their social and literary world.
Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute
197 "The proposed building consists of a Hall calculated to contain 1000 persons, a Lecture-room seated for 180, a Library, a Museum, nine Rooms, to be used as Class and Committee Rooms, &c., and Lodgings for the Porter. Under these, it is proposed to have two large and commodious Shops, with extensive Cellarage; and, behind the Shops, a suite of Rooms, which would be well adapted for a Coffee Room (...)" (Al. Yeats, Aberdeen, January 22, 1844. Aberdeen Journal, February 14, 1844).
The foundation stone of the building, which cost over £4000, was laid in August 1845 by the Lord Provost. Almost all public organisations in Aberdeen took part in the proceedings.
The building in Market Street soon proved to be inadequate and in 1889 an Appeal Fund for a new Central Library was launched. This building later became the Bon-Accord Hotel.
Mechanics' Institute - Library
198 Initially a place of entertainment, the Mechanics' Institute subsequently became a public library on the adoption of the Public Libraries Act (1884).
The Library was the most valuable asset of the institution and was viewed as a necessity, providing significant educational opportunities to its members.
Many of the books within the initial library were donated by members and friends of the institution, such as the booksellers Angus & Co., and the well-known architect Archibald Simpson who provided technical books.
The first Catalogue of books in the library of the Aberdeen Mechanics Institute was published in 1825, with some additions were added the following year. Originally, 800 copies of the catalogue were printed. We hold both the first catalogue and its additions in our collections.
In 1837, the library consisted of over 11,000 volumes of works, mainly relating to science and the arts. It was primarily a library of scientific and technical books but, after just a few years, the Committee discussed the possibility of extending its collections to adult fiction.
The library grew steadily over the following years and, owing to the advantage of a new building and a good library, people joined the classes in larger numbers. When the institute was disbanded, the library's contents were donated to the new public library in Rosemount Viaduct - now Aberdeen Central Library.
Treasure 43: Lending Department Catalogue (1886)
212 To commemorate Aberdeen's first free lending library opening 130 years ago this month we have selected a bound copy of the catalogue as one of our treasures. The hard back volume was presented to the library by the late Robert Anderson. An inscription tells us Anderson received the volume in 1917 from Catherine W Duncan after the death of her brother, James W Duncan, in whose library it had previously resided.
The catalogue was printed by the Aberdeen University Press and comprises of a single continuous alphabetically sequence including authors names, subjects of works and miscellaneous headings. Additionally, the catalogue includes the bye-laws of the Library, a preface, an "Explanations and Directions" section, a key to the indicator system and adverts for many Aberdeen businesses. In his preface, Robertson states "In the preparation of the following Catalogue, the chief aim has been to provide a compendious and easy guide to the contents of the Lending Department of the Library, which readers can take to their homes. No particular system has been rigidly followed, but recourse has been had to whatever device seemed calculated to promote the desired objects."
Baillie Walker and Dr Alexander Bain, Lord Rector of the University, also spoke at the opening of the Lending Department. Bain discussed the make-up of the book stock and the efforts undertaken to create this new development. He gave particular mention to the application of Library Committee member Duguid Milne. Baillie Walker stressed the preparatory work and said that Robertson, the Librarian, turned night into day in his efforts and that it was absolutely necessary that he takes a well-deserved holiday during the summer.
Even at the opening of the new Lending Department there was an awareness that the current building was inadequate. Efforts by the Library Committee to secure new premises had already been underway for some time. At the opening, A O Gill, Chairman of the Sub-Building Committee, stated that "they ought to have something better for the public than the present building, and he hoped that they would be able soon to provide a building suitable for the requirements of this large and populous city."
After much discussion of sites, gathering of funds, and construction work, the purpose built Aberdeen Central Library on the new Rosemount Viaduct was officially opened on 5th July 1892 and remains the home of Aberdeen's Public Libraries to this day. The old Mechanics' Institution has since primarily housed a mixture of hotels and pubs. A reminder of its brief time as Aberdeen's Public Library was found in 1950 when painters decorating the then Bon Accord Hotel uncovered a hidden sign showing the library's old opening times.
Treasure 44: Historic Children's Literature Collection
213 This month we feature beautifully illustrated children's literature from our historic collections to mark World Book Day on 3 March 2016.
World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and - most importantly - it is a celebration of reading. It is designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.
Little Ann and Other Poems illustrated by Kate Greenaway is a first edition, published by George Routledge & Sons c. 1883. It contains 42 poems all illustrated in her charming style of dainty children dressed in typical Greenaway costume.
Catherine "Kate" Greenaway (17 March 1846 - 6 November 1901) was an English artist and children's book illustrator
Online resources Britannica Encyclopaedia provides a brief biography of Kate Greenaway:
"The daughter of John Greenaway, a draftsman and wood engraver, Kate Greenaway grew up in various residences, including a farmhouse in Nottinghamshire, and studied art in various places, including London. She began to exhibit drawings in 1868, and her first published illustrations appeared in such magazines as Little Folks. In 1879 she produced her first successful book, Under the Window, followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and other books for children, which had an enormous success and became very highly valued".
Greenaway's work was praised by John Ruskin, a dear friend who said "her drawings are blissful just in the degree that they are natural; the fairyland that she creates for you is not beyond the sky nor beneath the sea but near to you, even at your doors. She does but show you how to see it and how to cherish".
In our collections we also hold a copy of 'Kate Greenaway Pictures: from originals presented by her to John Ruskin and other personal friends' from 1921.
"In 1890 Greenaway was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and in 1891, 1894, and 1898 she exhibited watercolour drawings, including illustrations for her books, at the gallery of the Fine Art Society (by which a representative selection was exhibited in 1902). From 1883 to 1897, with a break only in 1896, she issued a series of Kate Greenaway's Almanacs."
The Kate Greenaway Medal, established in her honour in 1955, is awarded annually by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK to an illustrator of children's books.
St. Machar's Cathedral
353 An etching of St. Machar's Cathedral in Old Aberdeen by James G. Murray, A.R.E. (1863-1906).
Murray was the son of an Aberdeen house carpenter and was educated at the city's Free East Church School. After leaving school he attended classes at the Mechanics Institute and Gray's School of Art. He also taught at the latter for some time.
While in Aberdeen Murray undertook a large number of well received, black and white etchings. He later moved to Glasgow and worked as a lithographic print designer. He specialised in book illustration and poster work.
He was elected an associate of the Royal Painter-Etcher Society and contributed to their exhibitions. He also regularly exhibited work in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stirling.
He was just over 40 years old when he died. For a more detailed account of his life and work please see his obituary in the Peterhead Sentinel and Buchan Observer (18 August 1906, p5).
This framed etching was kindly donated to the library in 2016. |