old edinburgh club
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Book Of The Old Edinburgh Club

The Club has published the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club since 1908. The 40 volumes make up a substantial body of historical articles and source material about Edinburgh's history.

The original series was published in 35 volumes, 1908 - 1985. A cumulative index to volumes I-XX was published as volume XXI (1936). Separate indexes can be found in volumes XXII - XXXIII and each of the parts which make up volumes XXXIV-XXXV.

The new series of the Book began in 1991, and a cumulative index to volumes 1-5 was published as part of volume 5 (2002). The contents of the new series are listed below.

Guidelines for Contributors
Ordering copies

Contents of BOEC New Series Volumes 1-7

New Series Volumes 1-7
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

  Volume 1, 1991
View of the North British Railway from the North Bridge Drawn and engraved by T Steuart  c1848
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Ceremonial in Edinburgh: The Heralds and the Jacobite Risings.
Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight.

Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Edinburgh Seedsmen and Nurserymen.
Priscilla Minay.

Two Robert Adam Buildings illustrated on Edinburgh Trade Tokens.
G. R. Dalgleish.

The Edinburgh Villa.
Ian Gow.

An Edinburgh Intrigue: Brewster's Society of Arts and the Pantograph Dispute.
A. D. C. Simpson.

  Edinburgh Portraits
Sir William Forbes, 1739-1806, Banker and Philanthropist.
Sheila Devlin-Thorp.
 

Reekiana
An Edinburgh Lawyer and his Bees.
Una A. Robertson.

Causey Clash of Kirk, Town and College, 1747-48.
Iain Gordon Brown.

  Book Reviews
 
  Volume 2, 1992
Stockbridge and St Bernard's
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New Light on the First New Town.
Stuart Harris.

'The Connoisseurs' Identified?
Zella Ashford.

Robert Adam's Drawings: Edinburgh's Loss, London's Gain.
Iain Gordon Brown.

John Gulland's Diary, 1846-1849: A Transcript and Commentary.
John B. Barclay.


 

Edinburgh Portraits
Samuel McClellan, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 1706-1708.
Richard Torrance.

William Nicol, FRSE, c.1771-1851, Lecturer, Scientist and Collector.
A. D. Morrison-Low.

 

Reekiana
The School of the Royal College of Holyrood House.

The Very Reverend Ronald Selby Wright.

A Scottish Rococo Bookplate and its Peers.
Ian Gow.

  Book Reviews
 
  Volume 3, 1994
Edinburgh Castle from the south
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The Lands of Warriston.
Zella Ashford.

Fire and Filth: Edinburgh's Environment, 1660-1760.
Rab Houston.

The Development of Edinburgh's Second New Town.
Connie Byrom.

The West Port Murders and the Miniature Coffins from Arthur's Seat.
Samuel Pyeatt Menefee and Allen D. C. Simpson.

Changing Edinburgh.
Ian Campbell.

The Holy Corner.
Yvonne Hillyard.

  Edinburgh Portraits
William Smellie, 1740-1795.
Stephen Brown.
 

Reekiana
The Wrichtishousis: 'A Very Curious Edifice'.
Charles McKean.

John Kay's Satires on Sir Lawrence Dundas.
Iain Gordon Brown.

James Hamilton's 'Lying-In' Hospital at Park House.
A. D. C. Simpson.

  Book Reviews
 
  Volume 4, 1997
North Bridge and Calton Hill
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Historical Notes on Chessels Court.
R. Ian McCallum.

The Turnpike Road to Cramond and Queensferry.
Barclay S. Fraser.

A Genteel Academy: The Edinburgh Drawing Institution, 1825-1836.
Helen Smailes.

D. T. K. Drummond and the Foundation of St Thomas's Church.
David Ford.

Public and Privileged Access: A Historical Survey of Admission Charges and Visitor Figures for Part of the Scottish National Collections.
Geoffrey N. Swinney and David Heppell.

  Edinburgh Portrait
Greyfriars' Bobby Ð Dog or Myth?
Sara Stevenson.
 

Reekiana
The Palace at Edinburgh Castle.
Charles McKean.

The Canonmills Gunpowder Manufactory and a newly discovered Plan by John Adair.
Peter G. Vasey.

James Hutton's House at St John's Hill, Edinburgh.
Norman E. Butcher.

Surpassing Expectations: An East Anglian Visitor's Report of 1790.
Iain Gordon Brown.

The First and Second Halls of the Royal Medical Society.
M. H. Kaufman.

An Accidental Crime.
N. J. Mills.

Shinty in Nineteenth-Century Edinburgh and a Painting of Duddingston Loch by Charles Altamont Doyle.
John Burnett.

The Conversazione at the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, 1875.
John Burnett.

  Book Reviews
 
  Volume 5, 2002
The Abbey Brewery
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William Cheape of the Canongate, an Eighteenth Century Linen Manufacturer.
Vanessa Habib.

The Museums of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society.
M. H. Kaufman and S. Blomfield.

A Century of Change in George Square, 1876-1976.
Clive Fenton.

  Edinburgh Portrait
Hugh William Williams ('Grecian' Williams) 1773-1829.
Joe Rock.

 

Reekiana
Adam Square: An Edinburgh Architectural First.
Ian R. M. Mowat.

James Craig, 1739-1795: Correction of his Date of Birth.
Kitty Cruft.

An Undocumented Plan for Edinburgh's First New Town by James Craig.
Volker M. Welter.

Additions to the Descriptive List of Works and Projects by James Craig.
Anthony Lewis.

  Book Reviews
  Index to Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, New Series, Volumes 1-5
Volume 6, 2005

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Defending the Burgh: Continuity and Change in Early Modern Edinburgh’s Defence Infrastructure.
Aaron M. Allen

Richard Cooper Senior (c.1696-1764) and his Properties in Edinburgh.
Joe Rock

From James Mansfield to Ramsays, Bonars & Company: Some Notes on the Story of a Private Bank.
Zella Ashford

Location Veterinary Education in Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century.
Alastair A. Macdonald, Colin M. Warwick and W. T. Johnston

Edinburgh Portrait

William Turner, Cabinet Maker, Entrepreneur and Lord Provost, 1772-1833
Stephen Jackson

Reekiana

‘Our Small World of Fashion’; or the Dark Side of the Ball.
Iain Gordon Brown

A Rare Survival – The Whin Club Box
Jill Turnbull

Book Reviews
Volume 7, 2008

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Rosebery and the Birth of the Old Edinburgh Club
Owen Dudley Edwards

Burgage Plots and the Foundation of the Burgh of Edinburgh
Robin Tait

The Prisons of War in Edinburgh Castle
Chris Tabraham

Thomas and John Donaldson and the Edinburgh Medical Class Cards
A.D.C. Simpson

An Account of the Duddingston Curling Society, 1795 - 1854
David B. Smith

Robert Forrest (1789 - 1852) and his Exhibition on the Calton Hill
Joe Rock

The Edinburgh School of Cookery
Una A. Robertson
Edinburgh Portraits

Gregor Drummond, 1744 - 1813, Flesher
Graham Palmer

Daniel Wilson, 1816 - 1892
Kitty Cruft
Reekiana

James Craig’s Original Design for the Observatory on Calton Hill, May 1776
D.J. Bryden

The Burns-Scott Meeting at Sciennes Hill House
David Purdie

Daniel Macintosh and the Repository of Arts
Iain Gordon Brown
Book Reviews
Volume 8, 2010
Seal The OEC Centenary Conference: President’s Remarks
Iain Gordon Brown

In Search of Twentieth-Century Edinburgh
R. J. Morris

Lawyer’s Edinburgh 1908-2008
Hector L. McQueen

Twentieth-Century Science in Edinburgh: A brief Personal Selection
Aubrey Manning

The Lecture as Edinburgh’s Snare of the Sun
Owen Dudley Edwards

Religious Identity in a Century of Secularisation: The Edinburgh Churches Since 1900
Stewart J. Brown

Rambling Round the Walls One Hundred Years On
Graeme Cruickshank

A Centenary Re-creation of an OEC Council Ritual
Graeme Cruickshank
Constitution of the Old Edinburgh Club
Annual Report of the Old Edinburgh Club for the Year 2007-2008
Annual Report of the Old Edinburgh Club for the Year 2008-2009
 

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Guidelines for Contributors

1. Authors are invited to send a preliminary note outlining the proposed contribution to the editor of the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club (BOEC), Dr Andrew Fraser, 21 Warriston Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 5LB
email or tel 0131 557 2252
.
An early indication of the illustrations envisaged would be helpful.

2. Copy should be submitted in typescript, double spaced, on one side of A4 paper, with wide margins. It is desirable that the text is also supplied on disk when the contribution is produced by word processor.

3. Contributions should follow the house style as shown in the most recently published volume of the new series of BOEC. Copies can be consulted in the Edinburgh Room, Edinburgh City Libraries, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, and other subscribing libraries.

4. Notes and references should follow the text, with arabic numerals inserted consecutively at the ends of the appropriate sentences in the text. This is most appropriately done with autonumbered endnotes in a word processor program.

5. References to printed sources should be set out as in the following examples. Titles of books and journals in italics. All abbreviations should be spelt out in full at first mention.
Sir Daniel Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, 2nd edn, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1891) II, p. 59.
J. B. Morrell, 'Medicine and Science in the Eighteenth Century', in Gordon Donaldson (ed.), Four Centuries: Edinburgh University Life, 1583-1983 (Edinburgh 1983), pp. 38-52.
R. K. Hannay and G. P. H. Watson, 'The Building of Parliament House', Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 13 (1924), pp. 1-78.

6. References to manuscript sources should be in accordance with the practice of the repository in which the documents are housed. Examples are:
Edinburgh City Archives (ECA), Town Council Minutes, 12 August 1752.
National Library of Scotland (NLS), MS. 638, ff. 9-10.

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Ordering copies

UK residents may buy single copies of any volume of BOEC New Series Vols 2-6 only at £6 each, including postage and packing to a UK address.  (Please note: Vol 1 is no longer available.)  If you buy more than one volume, please add £5 extra for each volume (ie say you want Vols 2, 5 and 6: the cost will be £16).

BOEC New Series Volume 7 (published September 2008) costs £15, including postage and packing to a UK address. The cost for all 6 volumes available is the special price of £35.
We can usually manage a special rate for those resident in Edinburgh (by arranging a delivery time and place) or for those who can collect copies from a specific pick-up point in the city: the cost is £4 per single volume (Vols 2-6); £17 for a copy of each one of Vols 2-6; and £32 for each one of Vols 2-7.  Please contact us in advance to check that we can manage the special Edinburgh offer rate for you.

For those outside UK in the rest of Europe, the cost per volume is £7 (except for Volume 7, cost £15), including postage and packing. The cost for all volumes available is the special price of £47.

For those in the rest of the world, please contact us for a quotation, stating whether the books should be sent airmail or surface post.  We estimate that the rate per volume, including postage and packing, would be £10 per volume (for Volume 7 only, the cost will be around £19).

Orders should be sent to Dr Alan Borthwick, Secretary, Old Edinburgh Club, 25 West Relugas Road, Edinburgh EH9 2PW.  Cheques (in pounds sterling only) should be made payable to Old Edinburgh Club.

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23rd March 2010. Some of the Council members of the Old Edinburgh Club; Alan Borthwick (General Secretary), Andrew Fraser (Editor BOEC), Alan McKinney (Treasurer), Robin Tait (Vice-President) and Allen Simpson (Membership Secretary) packing the latest edition (Volume 8 New Series ) of the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club for postage and delivery. Club members who attended the last of our Winter Programme lectures, an in-depth study of Alexander Nasmyth by Dr Patricia Andrew, were able to pick up their copies on the night.
Photo Colin M Warwick

 

 

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