In February 1760, advocate Walter Steuart presented a petition to the Court of Session on behalf of his client, John Grieve, a taylor in Potter-row. [1] The petition was part of a long-standing dispute between Grieve and his neighbour John Neill, a barber and wig-maker. Their disagreement involved the use of a shared garden and…
As described in a previous post, Mr James Fennell was tormented by a mob of Edinburgh lawyers as he tried to work as an actor at the Theatre Royal during Mrs Siddon’s visit there in July 1788. The events did not escape the notice of the Caledonian Mercury and its reports provide more details about…
The Hunterian’s new major exhibition, which opens today, celebrates and analyses its founder William Hunter who was born 300 years ago this year. Hunter was many things – anatomist, royal physician, bibliophile, collector, historian, patron of the arts, teacher – and this exhibition sets out to explore the various aspects of his life and legacy…
A post about being an early career researcher, how I failed at it, and why I’m glad Note: This is much more personal than I would normally be. I may take it down in future since it doesn’t show off the ‘professional me’ that I need to show to the world to be successful. But…
7 November 2017 saw a milestone in the ‘William Hunter’s Library: A Transcription of the Early Catalogues’ when we launched a draft version of the transcription of Museum Records 3, the Trustees Catalogue of Printed books compiled in 1783-1785. This list recorded the books found in Hunter’s London home in Great Windmill Street that were…
This William Hunter’s Library update takes a break from the alphabetical scheme to consider the Trustees who Hunter selected to look over his legacy. Hunter chose George Fordyce, David Pitcairn, and Charles Combe as his Trustees. You can find out a bit more about them – and why Hunter chose them – here: William Hunter’s…
The ‘K’ section of William Hunter’s library reveals some of his varied non-medical interests. Travel and exploration emerge as themes as does an interest in languages. You can read this latest William Hunter’s Library: A Transcription of the Early Catalogues project update at: William Hunter’s Library: the Ks
It is hard to believe that the William Hunter’s Library project is now well past its half way point! Our Project Assistants have completed the first draft of our transcription of Museum Records 3 (that is, the catalogue of Hunter’s books that his Trustees compiled after his death) and we are proofreading the spreadsheet that…
The letter ‘H’ is particularly strong for medical authors. Harvey, Hippocrates, John Hunter, and, of course, William Hunter himself all have entries in Hunter’s library catalogue. The Transcription Team has completed a first draft of the transcription of Museum Records 3. We’re going through the draft and tracking down entries we’ve not yet matched to…
One name dominates Hunter’s library catalogue in the ‘G’ section of William Hunter’s library: Galen. Hunter offered his assessment of Galen in the survey of the history of anatomy in the first lecture he gave to his students. You can see that, and a report of some of the highlights from the ‘G’ section of…
