Category Archives: Ayrshire Collection

The New Coo

by bmcuser

This Thursday is National Poetry Day, which is the perfect excuse to delve into our collections of some of the lesser-known poetry of Ayrshire’s past. The theme for National Poetry Day is water, but given it is East Ayrshire Leisure’s Harvest Festival this weekend, we’re finding an enjoyable theme of cows in some of our local collections. For example, this little pamphlet printed in Beith in 1829 -

Copy of Old Hawkey or the properties of the cow, a poem

Our favourite poem of the week however, comes from John S. Gall of Stonebriggs, Cumnock, whose 1928 collection Muses behind the plough contains poems about the First World War and miners’ strikes as well as farming.

Copy of Muses behind the plough

The first poem ‘The New Coo’ contains the happy chorus:

“Breed a coo that can fill the pail;
Breed a coo that can tap the sale;
Breed a coo that can breed a male
          Worth seventeen hunner guineas.”
 

John S. Gall was a dairy farmer, champion ploughman, singer and fiddler. He was born at East Montgarswood Farm in the parish of Sorn in 1875. The foreword of his collection states that his poems “were often jotted down with his pipe-stem on the beam and stilts of his plough and transferred to paper by the fireside in the evenings when the day’s toil was over.” He died in 1966 age 91.

National Poetry Day is being celebrated at Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute with a special event by acclaimed poet Chris Powici, Thursday 3rd October (for more info, call ).

To the Shetland Islands through Kilmarnock Spectacles

by bmcuser

An interesting part of Kilmarnock’s 20th century literary heritage is the series of travel books written by William Munro. These were written and published in Kilmarnock around the early 1900s, often by D. Brown & Co. Some, for example the Shetland book below, were reprinted from the Kilmarnock Standard.

To the Shetland Islands through Kilmarnock spectacles

The books essentially detail Munro’s holidays in a relaxed and chatty (for the time) style – “What I did during the Grozet Fair”. His travel writing takes in Peebles, Dunblane, St Andrews, Montrose, Brechin, Nottingham, Taymouth Castle, Keswick, and in the case of the holiday below, Edinburgh.

A Jumbled Holiday

Even at this time, Munro is bemoaning the diminishing stature of the local Grozet Fair, where he remembers shows and attractions that would keep people in the town during their holidays. Instead, he sees that local people are being drawn off on their travels, even to Paisley or Glasgow to see the shows.

Nottingham and within motor reach

William Munro was a Baillie of Kilmarnock around the turn of the 20th century (most of his books are credited to Ex-Bailie Munro). He also wrote articles for the Kilmarnock Standard and local magazines Auld Killie and St Marnock. He was President of the Kilmarnock Burns Club in 1912 and as convener of the Town Council’s Books Committee, played a key role in the development of the Ayrshire Collection. Beyond his official capacity, he was a partner in Gilmour & Smith, preserve manufacturers based at Glencairn Preserve Works. Perhaps his literary leanings influenced the use of the Burns Monument on the firm’s advertisement!

Gilmour and Smith ad

Sports Day, 1877

by bmcuser

Local sporting events of the past provide a rich seam of information about how the people of East Ayrshire enjoyed their leisure time. Thankfully lots of books, pamphlets, articles, songs and poems have been written about the area’s sports. Details of clubs and competitions in football, rugby, curling, bowling, cricket, the steeplechase, and many more, are contained in our collections.

The notice below for Kilmarnock Cricket Club’s Grand Promenade and Amateur Athletics Sports day on Saturday 21st April, 1877, shows the kind of events that local clubs organised for the public to enjoy, often with involvement of the Town Council.

Amateur Athletic Sports Notice 1877

The report of the event, in the Kilmarnock Standard the following Saturday, states that the weather was poor and the ground soft, but up to 1400 people attended to see the races. One gentleman won 5 first prizes, but “the shoes in which he competed are said not to be in accordance with the rules, and [...] the committee feel themselves constrained to refer the matter for the opinion of the editor of Bell’s Life.” Clearly a serious matter – Bell’s Life was the leading sports newspaper of Victorian Britain.

The Standard article also lists the prize-winners. Prizes included cups, flasks, a silver inkstand, cigar case, a knife, a pipe, and for the winner of the Dribbling Race, an umbrella. The best prize appears to have gone to the winner of the Sack Race – a writing desk!

Kilmarnock Phenomenology?

by bmcuser

We recently mentioned a puzzling pamphlet called A Concise View of the Inductive Mode of Investigation, and of the Phenomena and Efficiency of Mind in Reference to Matter: with an Appropriate Engraving, for Illustration by John Lawrie, Kilmarnock. It was published and sold in Kilmarnock by Robert Nelson, 18 King Street, and printed by J. Paterson in Kilmarnock, which would date it as c1830. (It was also sold by booksellers in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Irvine and Ayr.)

Copy of A Concise View of the Inductive Mode of Investigation

We know very little about this pamphlet or the author. The only record that we’re aware of is on the library catalogue of Yale University, where there is a copy bound with other volumes under the subject of phenomenology. It is extremely unusual in our collection of pamphlets and books printed in the town at that time, which usually contain poetry, sermons, or accounts of some local events.

We’d love to know more about the pamphlet and the author. We have a record of a John Lawrie in the 1833 Post Office Directory, listed as ‘Residenter, 47 High Street’. We are also aware of a John Lawrie born in Newmilns in 1810, who may have held a non-conformist congregation in Kilmarnock during the 1830s. He later moved to SW Australia and played a role in the emerging Baptist church of that region.

The most striking feature of the pamphlet is the engraving which folds out from the first page, which as the author states “represents the aspect and operation of anger” and is “an exact portrait of the mode which individual thought, in its physical results, always exhibits.”

Engraving from A Concise View of the Inductive Mode of Investigation etc by John Lawrie c1830s

The author gives an explanation of the engraving -

The circle A represents the head of a person; all the space within it is called the seat of the mind, or locality of the thinking principle; all that is within the circle B is denominated the image of the attractive object, displaying itself in the character of subjection, and in the attitude of universal expansion. The white bosom included within the figure D represents the human head or physiognomy. All the red surface included within the circle C, part of which encircles what denotes the head, and the rest mingles with its interior, we designate the attractive object.

And finally, our favourite part -

The exterior chain of attractive likeness which encircles the whole, is merely ornamental.

If anyone can tell us more about this pamphlet or the author we’d be delighted to hear about it. Just email us at .

 

Discovering odd new treasures

by bmcuser

This Saturday we’re hosting Scottish Book Trust’s Treasures workshop, with author Ewan Morrison. Ewan’s Treasures story Smells Like Bat Table is online now.

At the Burns Monument Centre we deal with treasures every day – old books, maps, letters, family history records, even treasure chests! Our current favourite box of treasures contains a variety of pamphlets from the collections and press of Kilmarnock publisher James McKie (this is distinct from the official McKie Collection - a treasure-trove of Burnsiana originally housed in the Burns Monument museum). The pamphlets range from local poetry and sermons to school books and travel writing. Also in the collection are some of the odd jobs that McKie printed, for example this Guidebook to Kelsall’s Crystal Palace Exhibition, and Royal Collection of Moving Wax Models.

Copy of Pamphlet title pages 036

Quite why James McKie printed this guidebook is unknown. We can’t find any mention of Kelsall’s Exhibition in the reports of Kilmarnock’s fairs of the 1870s and 80s. The Kilmarnock Standard regularly reports on the fairs and shows of the town at this time, with great detail of the peculiar exhibits: The World in Miniature, Hengler’s Circus, The Living Menagerie, Lilliputian Circus, Auld Ord the Great Equestrian, Mr Biddall’s Ghost Illusion, Whatman’s Marionettes, Carloman’s Living Curiosities, Purchase’s Waxwork and Mandor’s Maxwork.

Kelsall’s may have visited Glasgow or one of the coastal towns. Whatever McKie’s reasons for printing this, we liked it so much we digitised it! Click on the image below to open up the digital version, and zoom in to see more detail.