THE WS SOCIETY ONLINE EXHIBITION 2024
Macvey Napier’s librarianship saw the golden period of Signet Library collecting in which the Library built superb collections, especially in British history and topography, voyages and travels, ecclesiastical history and theology, philosophy and jurisprudence. These remain the core collections at the Library today, and their use and conservation are central to the modern WS Society.
From the evidence of surviving purchase records and Napier’s Library Catalogues, his collecting might be said to fall into three periods.
Between 1805 and 1820 – the period also occupied by the building of the new Signet Library in West Parliament Square – the focus was upon obtaining the standard works of human knowledge, with an emphasis on history and topography, with about half of the accessions being seventeenth and eighteenth century publications.
Between 1820 and 1826 the Library widened in scope with works in many European languages arriving and many absolute rarities such as the 1558-1560 pamphlets by John Knox that heralded Knox’s return from overseas and the arrival of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.
After 1826 the Library turned its focus more onto recent publications, although treasures continued to be found, such as Lord Balnave’s Confession of Faith. During his period of office, Napier added about 10,000 titles to the Signet Library, increasing the size of the overall collection from 5000 to 40,000 volumes.
Hume’s History from the library of Madame de la Borde
Napier was collecting at a time when events such as the French Revolution filled the auction houses of Europe with great books, some of which found their way to the Signet Library and can be seen here today, including magnificent French editions of David Hume and Adam Smith, and works from great French libraries built by luminaries such as Jacques-August de Thou (1553-1617) and the economist André Morellet (1727 – 1819).
The Signet Library’s collecting was purposeful, never indulging in mere connoissership for its own sake. It was an integrity that paid off: after two hundred years and countless vicissitudes, a fine, working, coherent collection remains for future generations to enjoy.
Further Reading
Guides to library-building known to have been present in Signet Library collections during the Golden Age include:
Jacques Charles Brunet Manuel du Libraire, et de l’Amateur de Livres (Paris 1814)
Thomas Dibdin The Library Companion.. in the choice of a Library (London 1824)
Thomas Dibdin Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics.. etc (London 1804)
4. The Golden Age of the Signet Library
Macvey Napier: Golden Age Librarian