[Caledonian Mercury Contents] FROM "THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY," OF JANUARY 7, 1861. ——♦—— THIS DAY TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO appeared in this city, as an organ of local opinion, and a disseminator "of Forraign Intelligence," the humble little sheet that accompanies our present number. "Take it up tenderly, Fashioned so slenderly." It is our tiny original … Continue reading ‘Caledonian Mercury’, January 7, 1861. →

[Caledonian Mercury Contents] FAC SIMILE OF “Mercurius Caledonius” OF JANUARY 8, 1661. WITH HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY TO JANUARY 8, 1861. MERCURIUS CALEDONIUS. COMPRISING The Affairs now in Agitation in SCOTLAND: WITH A Survey of Forraign Intelligence. ———————————————————— Conamur Tenues Grandia. ———————————————————— From Monday Decemb. 31. to Tuesday, Jan. 8th. 1661. ———————————————————— From … Continue reading ‘Mercurius Caledonius’, January 8, 1661. →

[Caledonian Mercury Contents] This is a disbound copy of the Caledonian Mercury's celebration of its 200 years in the game. It begins with a 'Fac Simile' of the first edition of the first newspaper in Scotland, the 'Mercurius Caledonius', dated 8th of January, 1661, and is followed by a run-down of its history as a … Continue reading Mercurius Caledonius (1861 Reprint of 1661 Edition) →

KING JAMES having fled in terror to France, his nephew and daughter, the Prince and Princess of Orange, were proclaimed king and queen as William and Mary; and the Episcopacy established at the Restoration, after a struggling and unhonoured existence of twenty-eight years, gave way to the more popular Presbyterian Church. There were new figures … Continue reading Reign of William and Mary, 1689-1694, pp.342-354. →

ART. IV. - Selections from the Family Papers preserved at Caldwell, 1496-1853. Presented to the Maitland Club by William Mure, M.P. Glasgow. 1854. THESE three substantial quartos are among the very valuable of the many contributions to that excellent Society, the Maitland Club, to which our historians and archæologists have been so much indebted. By … Continue reading ‘London Quarterly Review’ (Oct. 1855) →

JAMES, Duke of York, succeeded his brother in the three kingdoms (February 6, 1685) at a mature period of life, being fifty-three years of age. While reckoning as James II. in England and Ireland, he was the seventh of the name in Scotland. From the commencement of his reign, James took no pains to conceal … Continue reading Reign of James the Seventh, 1685-1688, pp.338-341. →

[Maps Contents] Various maps from James Grant's 'Old and New Edinburgh', Volume 1, already published. High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version High-Resolution Version

FOR several years, there was little to be observed regarding Scotland but that the nonconformity of its people in several of the more populous provinces provoked an incessant show of severities on the part of the government. During this time, literature and science remained wholly uncultivated; no department of industry showed any decided tendency to … Continue reading Reign of Charles the Second, 1673-1685, pp.322-337. →

[Maps Contents] These are maps of Glasgow and Edinburgh and are the only maps included in William & Robert Chambers’ ‘Gazetteer of Scotland,’ volume 1. High-Resolution Version Gazetteer of Scotland (1847), Glasgow, p.620a. High-Resolution Version Gazetteer of Scotland (1847), Edinburgh, p.434a.

[Maps Contents] These have already been posted in 'View of Edinburgh with Guide Book' but they're valid for this section and the city map was part of a larger picture in its original post so hopefully you can see the details a wee bit better here. High- Resolution Version High- Resolution Version

[Maps Contents] This is a map of Glasgow from Harper's Hand Book (1879). Glasgow Central Station was opened in the middle of this year so this must have been one of the very last maps of Glasgow that didn't include the station. As you can, hopefully, see in the bottom picture, Alston Street is still … Continue reading Map of Glasgow (1879) →

THE wild joy with which the people of England hailed the close of anarchy and military tyranny in the restoration of Charles II. to the throne, was fully participated in Scotland by a small loyalist party. The bulk of the community were also made happy by the event, for they were pleased to see the … Continue reading Reign of Charles the Second, 1660-1673, pp.302-321. →

I present the fourth of the four books donated by Julie & Hilton and I really feel as though I left the best for last. This is a beautiful book, just gorgeous. Really tight binding and nice clean pictures throughout. It sports 80 views from around the country engraved from drawings by Scottish artists. Very … Continue reading ‘Scotland Illustrated’ (1845) →

Here we have the third donation from my excellent parents-in-law, Julie & Hilton Eeles. This is a really great book littered with illustrations that I'm really looking forward to getting into. I've seen it cited in other books I have so it'll be interesting to see what the original full text has for us.   … Continue reading ‘History of Scotland’ (1894) →

The second of four books generously donated by my super supportive parents-in-law Julie & Hilton Eeles. This is a 'History of Glasgow; and of Paisley, Greenock, and Port-Glasgow', though as this is book 1 of a 2 volume set it only encompasses Glasgow. It is in an unbound format at present, though I may have … Continue reading ‘History of Glasgow’ (1795) →

This is the first of four books very generously donated to Random Scottish History by my parents-in-law, Julie and Hilton Eeles. This wee Almanack has lost its cover and someone's taken an opportunity to badly snip out the arms of Edinburgh from the publisher's page. Regardless, it's a fantastic wee reference guide to the people … Continue reading ‘Edinburgh Almanack’ (1794) →

This is the second anonymous donation to Random Scottish History and I cannot, without having you hold it, convey the quality of this book's binding and print. I have been after this book for maybe a year and a half, my purchase was apparently lost during delivery and the seller didn't seem keen to help … Continue reading ‘Old Glasgow’ (1880) →

This is the first of a couple of anonymous donations to Random Scottish History. I'm really looking forward to getting the information and illustrations in these two volumes out as soon as possible. They are super weighty tomes with 808 & 908 pages respectively (without including the index) and tiny print so, as it would … Continue reading ‘Pictorial History of Scotland’ (1859) →

THE execution of the king, among its other bad effects, put enmity between the ruling powers of Scotland and England. The leaders at Edinburgh, notwithstanding their condemnation of the late 'Engagement,' upheld monarchy in principle; and therefore, while England was declaring itself a commonwealth or republic, Scotland proclaimed the late king's son - a youth … Continue reading Interregnum, 1649-1660, pp.278-301. →

I was only able to obtain volume 2 of this set, though I'll keep an eye out for its volume 1 counterpart. This is William Guthrie's 'General History of Scotland' (1767) and I bought it for the information it might contain. I was surprised with a wee bonus in the form of a disbound 48x43cm, … Continue reading ‘General History of Scotland’ (1767) →

IT was a terrible and most exciting crisis for Scotland, when the people found themselves constrained by all they held sacred to resist their sovereign. Revering the institution of monarchy, and long accustomed to yield to the powerful king of Great Britain a deference which had neither been asked by nor paid to the sovereign … Continue reading Reign of Charles the First, 1637-1649, pp.257-277. →

These are a collected miscellany of pictures from varying sources. My field of interest, when I realised history was what I was into, was Victorian London as I couldn't understand how anyone had made it out alive. To that end I started collecting Illustrated London Newspapers which didn't really feature Scotland often although I have … Continue reading Miscellaneous Collected Pictures →

JAMES I. was peaceably succeeded on the throne by his son Charles I., then in the twenty-fifth year of his age. The administration of Scottish affairs continued to be conducted by the Privy Council in Edinburgh. For the endowment of the Episcopal Church now established, the king (1625) attempted a revocation of the church-lands from … Continue reading Reign of Charles the First, 1625-1637, pp.228-256. →

[Maps Contents] This is a map of Scotland from 'A General History of Scotland' by William Guthrie, the second volume. It had torn from the book and the top corner was still attached. It was super wrinkled so I used a pair of hair straighteners to flatten it some for scanning. I separated the top … Continue reading Map of Scotland (1767) →

A wee post for the more morbidly-inclined among you. I found myself in my element seeking these out. Article screenshots were obtained via a thorough search of the British Newspaper Archive. I restricted my self to only Glasgow publications for the 19th century in a bid to curtail the amount of hits I'd need to … Continue reading Curious and Interesting Deaths →

THE death of Elizabeth, March 24, 1603, opened the way for King James to the English throne. He left Scotland on the 5th of April, after taking a tender farewell of his Scottish subjects, and promising to revisit them once every three years. He did not allow one year to elapse without making an effort … Continue reading Reign of James the Sixth, 1603-1625, pp.177-227. →