Leighton Library, Dunblane

Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library founded in 1687

Leighton Library has a 1749 edition of the controversial 7-volume "History of the Popes" by Archibald Bower

Added at 07:38 on 03 September 2025

The Leighton Library has a 1749 edition of the controversial 7-volume "History of the Popes" by the Scottish historian noted for his complicated and varying religious faith, Archibald Bower, who died #OnThisDay 3 September 1766.

Bower was a former Jesuit who fled Italy and converted to Protestantism. His work is laced with insider knowledge and biting critique, making it an example of ecclesiastical exposé from someone who had been deep within the Catholic hierarchy. It was cited in debates about religious tolerance, papal authority, and historical truth.

< Leighton Library has a 1611 edition of "A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John" by John Napier Leighton Library has 1663 first edition of "Hierozoicon sive bipertitum opus De animalibus sacrae scripturae" by Samuel Bochart >