The Library of Charles Areskine

Book Collecting & Lawyers in Scotland, 1700-1760

Karen BastonDoctoral Research Student

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Regent Professor of the Law of

Nature & Nations at Edinburgh University

AdvocateSolicitor GeneralLord AdvocateLord of Session (Lord

Tinwald)Lord Justice Clerk1680-1763

Charles Areskine of Alva

Some Selections from Areskine’s Library

A collection of various types of books with law at its heart

Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh Lawyer, Politician, Scholar

Recommendations for the Advocates’ Library:Law – primary discipline

History, Rhetoric, Criticism – aspects of legal study

The Library Catalogue of the Most Learned Lord,

Charles Areskine of Barjarg, Solicitor General

1731.

•Lists 1290 Books

•Divides Books into Legal & Miscellaneous Categories

•Legal Library has evidence of interest in concerns of legal humanism as well as books for legal practice

•Miscellaneous Library shows engagement with Scottish Enlightenment culture & British culture in general

Charles Areskine’s Library Catalogue

Restoration

Charles Erskine (1716-1749)Lawyer & MP

Areskine’s son needs to be restored to the historical record

An important link between Edinburgh & London

Tools for Legal Humanism

Printers create texts for scholars

Areskine’s books give evidence for his interest in innovations in book production technology in the service of scholarship

Bookplate of Charles Areskine of Alva, Lord Justice Clerk

Some of Areskine’s books were previously owned by other lawyers

His surviving son inherited them and continued to use them

Areskine’s books were later dispersed and are now in collections worldwide

Provenance

Original Contributions

• The Catalogue

• Restoration of the Two Charleses

• Books as Tools for Legal Humanism

• Provenance Studies

…history informs us of nothing new or strange….Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature, by showing men in all varieties of circumstances and situations, and furnishing us with materials from which we may form our observations and become acquainted with the regular springs of human action and endeavour.

David Hume

An enquiry concerning human understandingWith thanks to: