Illustrations in 'Views in Scotland'

Description Illustrations in 'Views in Scotland'

Date c. 1774 to 1866

Collection General Collection

Catalogue Number 551 359/6/1/292

Category All Other

Scope and Content This book contains 295 engravings which show views of buildings and landscapes in Scotland. The collector of the engravings has not been identified but most of them seem to have been culled from other books and magazines. Possibly some were bought from print sellers as one or two are marked 'Proof'. They were collected, arranged alphabetically and sent for binding (in half leather with marbled boards) at some time after 1866, which is the date of the latest engraving – a view of the stone circle at Callernish [sic] on the Isle of Lewis, drawn by The Rev. George D. Mackarness. [He was an antiquarian and archaeologist, founder of the Anastatic Drawing Society and Vicar of Ilam, Derbyshire, who published 8 volumes of views of Great Britain between 1863 and 1871.] Copies of the earliest engravings had been used in Pennant’s "Tour of Scotland and Journey to the Hebrides" (3rd edition 1774) in which the author acknowledged that the view of the sheilings on Jura had been given to him by Mr. Joseph Banks from his own collection. Others came from "The Gentleman's Magazine"; the 1805-17 issues of "The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany," (published by A. Constable); "The Border Antiquities of England & Scotland,"; "The Antiquarian & Topographical Cabinet containing a series of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain," (10 vols. Edited by J. S. Storer and John Greig, 1807); and various volumes in an 1834 edition of the "Works of Sir Walter Scott" published by Chapman & Long), and many unidentified sources. J. P. Neale was both the artist and publisher of many views in the 1820s and 30s, and others were engraved from originals by J. M. W. Turner, A. W. Calcott, Thomas H. Shepherd, S. Hooper, T. Allom, Paul Sandby and others. Engravers include P. Mazell and R. Scott. Among other publishers were George Virtue, Joseph Swan, Verner & Hood, Jones & Co., and G. Kearsly. The majority of the engravings were published during the first three decades of the nineteenth century and they cover many parts of Scotland but with some notable exceptions, such as Glasgow and Inverness. Some include figures, livestock and boats and one or two are dramatic – a coach with startled horses fleeing from pursuit in Glen Croe, ships in stormy seas, and Sewell's 'Bird Catching at Orkney (1785)' showing sea stacks being reached by a figure in a basket. A number depict prestigious country houses and estates with details of their ownership.

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