Scotland's oldest purpose-built library founded in 1687
> The Books > Blog > #OnThisDay, 15 March, 1792, Reverend Mr Michael Gilfillan, a borrower at Dunblane's Leighton Library borrowed "Encyclopaedia britannica; or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature"
#OnThisDay, 15 March, 1792, Reverend Mr Michael Gilfillan, a borrower at Dunblane's Leighton Library borrowed "Encyclopaedia britannica; or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature"
Added at 07:26 on 15 March 2024
#OnThisDay, 15 March, 1792, Reverend Mr Michael Gilfillan, a borrower at Dunblane's Leighton Library borrowed "Encyclopaedia britannica; or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature".
Reverend Mr Michael Gilfillan was the Secession (Burgher) minister of Dunblane, 1768-1816. This congregation had its origins in the controversies in the Church of Scotland at the time which centred on the rights of members in the appointment of ministers.
A first congregation of Seceders was formally established in Dunblane in 1758 and built its first meeting house in what is now the Haining. It went through successive name changes, from Associate to First Associate Burgher to United Secession and then United Presbyterian before becoming Leighton United Free Church of Scotland, which later became part of St Blane's Church, Dunblane.
Dunblane's historic Leighton Library has the 12-volume third edition (1797) of "Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature," the world's longest running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. The Leighton Library's third edition was published by the same Edinburgh publishers as the first edition, Colin Macfarquhar (a bookseller and printer) and Andrew Bell (an engraver), both of Edinburgh. The Britannica of this period was primarily a Scottish enterprise, and it is one of the most enduring legacies of the Scottish Enlightenment. The third edition was published from 1788 to 1797 in 300 weekly numbers (1 shilling apiece); these numbers were collected and sold unbound in 30 parts (10 shilling, sixpence each), and finally in 1797 they were bound in 18 volumes with 14,579 pages and 542 plates, and given title pages dated 1797 for all volumes. Now with multiple scholarly contributors, the third edition established the foundation of the Britannica as an important and definitive reference work for much of the next century. This edition was also enormously profitable and sold 10,000 copies. The 3rd edition began the tradition (subsequently continued) of dedicating the Britannica to the reigning British monarch, then King George III
Site Search
