Recent Books

The General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663–1674. Edited by J. R. D. Falconer (Scottish History Society, VI, 16). Edinburgh and Woodbridge: Scottish History Society in association with the Boydell Press, 2021. pp. vii + 626. £40. ISBN 978 0 906245 46 0.

Montrose-born John Clerk had a successful career as a merchant in Paris between 1634 and 1646. With the proceeds he purchased the barony of Penicuik in Midlothian, where he combined the roles of merchant, money-lender, and improving landowner. John Clerk was a meticulous book-keeper. For readers of The Library, the main interest of this household account book covering the last years of his life will be the records of his purchase of books and their binding, for himself and his family. Among other nuggets we learn that on 15 March 1667 he purchased from Robert Broun [of Edinburgh] ‘Craig de Feoudis in folio unbound for £4.0.0’ (Scots). On the same day he paid £1.1.0 to have it bound by a John Gedis (John Geddes in the Scottish Book Trade Index) who was also paid twelve shillings for ‘binding 2 books for the bairns in gray leather Smiths Sermons’. The next day Clerk paid Geddes 6d for ‘a printed act of the Convention of Stats holden in Januar 1667’. These two days of transactions alone suggest that Robert Falconer’s edition offers plenty of scope for identifying specific editions, searching for surviving copies of Clerk’s acquisitions and biographical exploration of book-trade worthies. While the index has several entries for both ‘Books’ and ‘Binding’, I noticed that the index did not cover all mentions of books when they were only mentioned by their title in the text.