The owner of one of the largest and most valuable private libraries in Scotland: David Hay Fleming as book collector.

Aitchison, Briony; Reid, Peter H.

Abstract

David Hay Fleming, one in a long line of gentlemen scholars, is remembered as an historian, antiquary, and critic. Yet upon his death in 1931 he left his library of nearly 13,000 volumes (together with his personal papers, letters, and notebooks) to the town of St Andrews, to form the nucleus of a public reference library. This paper seeks to place him firmly in the context of a book collector (and reader) through examining the subjects contained within his library, his motivation for acquiring books, and how his library was used both by himself and by others. Ultimately, new light will be shed upon the book-collecting habits of a middle-class individual, contributing to our understanding of how books were owned, read, and used in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Scotland.

Citation

AITCHISON, B. and REID, P.H. 2015. The owner of one of the largest and most valuable private libraries in Scotland: David Hay Fleming as book collector. Library and information history [online], 31(2), pages 95-116. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1179/1758348914Z.00000000077

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 21, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2015
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 16, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 16, 2018
• Journal: Library and information history
• Print ISSN: 1758-3489
• Electronic ISSN: 1758-3497
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 95-116
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/1758348914Z.00000000077
• Keywords: David Hay Fleming; Book collecting; Book collectors; Private libraries; Nineteenth century; Twentieth century; Scotland
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2805