In Search of Scotland Exhibition

Special Collections, 2011

In 1929 the English travel writer H. V. Morton made his first journey to Scotland, the land of his ancestors. Travelling up one side of the Scottish coast and down the other, Morton visited almost every nook and cranny that was Scotland. The result was his very successful publication In Search of Scotland (1929).

Atlas of Scotland: Being a New Set of County Maps.
Atlas of Scotland: Being a New Set of County Maps.
Cornelius Tacitus, [Works]. Vol I.
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
George Scott-Moncrieff, Edinburgh.
George Scott-Moncrieff, Edinburgh.
George Buchanan, Rerum Scoticarum Historia.
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Greenville Collins, Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot.
Greenville Collins, Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot.
Walter Scott, St. Ronan’s Well. Vol I.
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
2 The Borders
Walter Scott, St. Ronan’s Well. Vol. I.
‘ Kelso Abbey’, Kelso, Scottish Borders.
James Hogg, Altrive Tales.
2 The Borders
2 The Borders
2 The Borders
James Hogg, Altrive Tales.
Historical Tales of the Scotish Wars.
James Brome, Travels over England, Scotland and Wales.
2 The Borders
2 The Borders
3 The Borders
James Brome, Travels over England, Scotland and Wales.
‘Gilnockie Tower’ near Canonbie.
John Mackay Wilson, Wilson’s Historical, Traditionary…
3 The Borders
3 The Borders
3 The Borders
John Mackay Wilson, Wilson’s Historical, Traditionary…
James I of Scotland, The Kingis Quair.
James I of Scotland, The Kingis Quair.
3 The Borders
4 Ayrshire
4 Ayrshire
‘Dunure Castle’, South Ayrshire.
Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.
Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.
4 Ayrshire
4 Ayrshire
4 Ayrshire
Liberty and Equality Weighed in the Balance, and Found…
Bothwell Castle.
Allan Ramsay, The Ever Green.
5 Lanark
5 Lanark
5 Lanark
Allan Ramsay, The Ever Green.
Allan Ramsay, The Ever Green.
M’Phun’s Guide through Glasgow.
5 Lanark
5 Lanark
6 Glasgow
Daniel Defoe, A Tour thro’ the Whole…
‘Glasgow (St Mungo’s) Cathedral – Exterior’, Glasgow.
The Scottish Tourist.
6 Glasgow
6 Glasgow
6 Glasgow
The Scottish Tourist.
The Scottish Tourist.
The Scottish Tourist.
6 Glasgow
6 Glasgow
6 Glasgow
The Scottish Tourist.
‘Hakonar Saga’, in Icelandic Sagas.
‘Rothesay Castle’, Isle of Bute.
6 Glasgow
7 Bute
7 Bute
John Harvey, The Bruciad: An Epic Poem.
John Harvey, The Bruciad: An Epic Poem.
David Sime (Compiler), The Edinburgh Musical…
7 Bute
7 Bute
8 Loch Lomond
David Sime (Compiler), The Edinburgh Musical…
Loch Lomond.
A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXIX.
8 Loch Lomond
8 Loch Lomond
8 Loch Lomond
A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXIX.
A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXIX.
The Poems of Ossian. Vol I.
8 Loch Lomond
8 Loch Lomond
9 Glencoe
The Poems of Ossian. Vol I.
Gallienus Redivivus, or, Murther Will Out.
‘Glencoe’, Scottish Highlands.
9 Glencoe
9 Glencoe
9 Glencoe
Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers: and Other Poems.
Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers: and Other Poems.
Life of Saint Columba.
9 Glencoe
9 Glencoe
10 Staffa
‘Isle of Staffa’, Inner Hebrides, Scotland.
Fingal’s Cave.
Fingal’s Cave.
10 Staffa
10 Staffa
10 Staffa
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland.
11 Skye
11 Skye
11 Skye
View of the Coast of Sleat, Isle of Skye.
An Analysis of the Galic Language.
An Analysis of the Galic Language.
11 Skye
11 Skye
11 Skye
A Memoir of the Forty-five.
A Memoir of the Forty-five.
Kidnapped.
12 Culloden
12 Culloden
12 Culloden
Kidnapped.
Kidnapped.
Jacobite Reliques of Scotland.
12 Culloden
12 Culloden
12 Culloden
Jacobite Reliques of Scotland.
De Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.
De Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.
12 Culloden
13 Elgin
13 Elgin
Elgin Cathedral.
Land of Scotch.
Land of Scotch.
13 Elgin
13 Elgin
13 Elgin
Rudiments of Honour.
Rudiments of Honour.
More Leaves.
13 Elgin
13 Elgin
14 Balmoral
More Leaves.
Balmoral.
A New and Complete System of Universal Geography.
14 Balmoral
14 Balmoral
14 Balmoral
A New and Complete System of Universal Geography.
The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans.
The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans.
14 Balmoral
14 Balmoral
14 Balmoral
The Life and Meritorious Transactions of…
‘St. Andrews’, Fife.
An Theater of Mortality.
15 St. Andrews
15 St. Andrews
15 St. Andrews
An Theater of Mortality.
Biographia Scoticana.
Biographia Scoticana.
15 St. Andrews
15 St. Andrews
15 St. Andrews
A Tour through the Highlands of Scotland.
A Tour through the Highlands of Scotland.
Stirling Castle.
16 Stirling
16 Stirling
16 Stirling
A Tour in Scotland.
A Tour in Scotland.
Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regii Medicorum…
16 Stirling
16 Stirling
17 Edinburgh
The Perambulator in Edinburgh.
The Post Office Annual Directory for 1831-32.
The Post Office Annual Directory for 1831-32.
17 Edinburgh
17 Edinburgh
17 Edinburgh
A New and Easy Method of Cookery.
A New and Easy Method of Cookery.
The Early Views and Maps of Edinburgh.
17 Edinburgh
17 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
The Early Views and Maps of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle, from the Grassmarket.
The Scottish Chapbook.
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time.
Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time.
View of Edinburgh from the Castle.
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
The Scots Musical Museum.
The Scots Musical Museum.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
18 Edinburgh
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Scottish Authors, Then and Now.
Tartan.
18 Edinburgh
1 Vitrines
2 Vitrines
Scottish Emigration.
Modern Scholarship on Scotland.
John Buchan.
3 Vitrines
4 Vitrines
1 Walls
John Galt.
Dame Muriel Spark.
Val McDermid and Liam McIlvanney.
1 Walls
1 Walls
1 Walls
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sir Walter Scott.
J. M. Barrie.
1 Walls
1 Walls
1 Walls
Warrant to Execute Mary, Queen of Scots, 1587.
Warrant to Execute Mary, Queen of Scots, 1587.
Declaration of Scottish Indendpence.
1 Walls
1 Walls
1 Walls

The exhibition In Search of Scotland in the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago, follows loosely Morton’s coast-line travel. Utilizing lithographic images from a broken copy of John Parker Lawson’s Scotland Delineated (1858), those visiting the exhibition will travel in their mind’s eye up one coast and down the other, using the 19th century images of castles, abbeys, and landscape scenes as guides.

Starting at the border with ‘Kelso Abbey’, and then on to ‘Dunure Castle’ in South Ayrshire, the journey proceeds up the west coast to Bute, Staffa, Skye, and then down the east to Elgin, St Andrews, Balmoral, Stirling, and finally to Edinburgh. Beside each lithographic image are publications that highlight Scotland’s cultural, social, and economic past.

Topics covered include music, writers such as Robert Burns, James Hogg, and Robert Louis Stevenson, cooking, religion, travel, battles, printing in Scotland, Kings and Queens of Scotland, and the Scottish Enlightenment. This imaginative journey of Scotland is undertaken in 18 display cabinets; coverage is therefore selective.

Notable items on display include James Johnson’s The Scots Musical Museum (1803), containing songs by Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay’s The Ever Green, Being a Collection of Scots Poems (1724), James Hogg’s Altrive Tales (1835), James Brome’s Travels over England, Scotland and Wales (1707), Daniel Defoe’s A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (1753), Dr Johnson’s A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), and Thomas Pennant’s A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXIX (1790), and a large copy of Greenville Collins’s Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot (1749), detailing the Orkneys. One highlight is the small M’Phun’s Guide through Glasgow (1734), a presentation copy to James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. Some coverage will also be given to Scottish emigration to New Zealand, the Tartan, and Scottish authors then and now.

In Search of Scotland starts on 30 September and runs through to 16 December 2011. Please enjoy the journey

Download the 'In Search of Scotland' Hand List (in PDF format)