Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/278

Aberdeen : Its Literature, Bookmaking, and Circulating. 11. " Appelles stareing long did look upon The Learning, Policy, and Generous Mind Of that brave City, plac'd 'twixt Dee and Done ; But how to paint it he could never find, For still he stood, in judging which of three, A Court, A College, or A Burgh it be." WILLIAM DOWGLAS, 1685. T N speaking of the Literature and Bookmaking of Aberdeen, I cannot, I dare not, treat the members of the Library Association as a general audience in which the wisest course is to take it for granted that the auditors know nothing of the subject, and that it is necessary to tell everything ab ovo. My subject being mainly historical, I am pressed down by the thought that I am not at present addressing an audience of common globe-trotters, of mere tourists, or those of the gad- about order, in simple search of new sights, other librarians, and novel experiences. Believing that each of you when seated in your several spheres, whether public or private, are the monarchs of all you survey, and that if all the contents of all the multi- tudinous books within your reach are not at the instant call of your brains, yet holding your court there, the wise men of the east, west, north, and south, are ready at your call to offer you homage and come with their precious gifts of wisdom, learning, and of bibliographical knowledge, with which we are presently dealing. As far back as history can definitely speak, or tradition can whisper and suggest to us, we find that Churchmen were the first bookmakers, and in a secluded parish in Aberdeenshire, in an Abbey founded by St. Columba " The Book of Deer," con- taining the Gospel of St. John, and portions of the other three