Collection of Ian R. Grant, antiquarian bookseller
Scope and Contents
The material represents Ian R. Grant's seller's stock. The widely varied content of the collection includes legal documents on vellum, oaths of burgesses, inventories, correspondence and letter books, printed material such as adverts, magazines and religious pamphlets, songs and poems, family history documents, etc. It also includes a collection of c. 30 Burmese palm leaf manuscripts dating from the 19th century.
Because there was no discernible original order, the material was arranged by type of documents, as follows:
- Legal documents
- Business papers
- Ecclesiastical / religious documents
- Correspondence
- Songs and poems
- Miscellaneous
Dates
- Creation: 1544-1986
Creator
- Grant, Ian Robertson, fl 1910-1974 (antiquarian bookseller) (Collector, Person)
Language of Materials
English, French, Latin, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Italian, Burmese
Conditions Governing Access
Open. Please contact repository for details in advance.
Biographical / Historical
Edinburgh antiquarian bookseller Ian Robertson Grant (BA Camb.) had been President of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association in 1954-1955 and again in 1973-1974. He had also been a member of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh, and had held the office of President of the Society, 1949-1950, and he had served as the Society's librarian, 1948-1949.
In 1968, Ian R. Grant edited the Bicentenary edition of the History of the Speculative Society., published in Edinburgh by T. and A. Constable.
Grant was a cousin of the Edinburgh publisher and bookseller brothers John Grant and Douglas Grant (formerly John Grant Booksellers Ltd., 31 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, and John Grant, Rare and Secondhand Books, Old Maps and Prints, 13c and 15a Dundas Street, Edinburgh).
Extent
9 boxes
Physical Location
E2012.16; CLX-A-1117 to 1124; outsize material in CLX-D-17 (Coll-1383/1/10; Coll-1383/3/7-8)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased August 2012. Accession no: E2012.16
Processing Information
Box-list created by Graeme D. Eddie 06 December 2012. Item-level descriptions created by Kevin Hall and Aline Brodin in 2018-2020.
- Title
- Collection of Ian R. Grant, antiquarian bookseller
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379
heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk