Adam Smith

J. Bonar, A catalogue of the library of Adam Smith, London, Macmillan 1932 (1^st edition 1894).

The catalogue, published a century after the death of the author, attempts to reconstruct Smith’s library, which must have included between 3000 and 5000 volumes. The catalogue censuses around 2300 items, alphabetically ordered by author. The catalogue does not indicate inner subdivisions. The edition of 1932 reproduces the only catalogue, while the first edition also includes an extensive bio-bibliographic introduction.
On the death of Smith the library was inherited by a cousin, David Douglas (Lord Reston); on his death it was divided between his two daughters, Mrs. Cunningham and Mrs. Bannermann, who sold some of the books. At the time when the catalogue was being compiled, the library belonged in part to private individuals and in part to the University Library of Edinburgh and to the Queen’s College of Belfast. For an integration of the work of Bonar cf. also H. Mizuta, Adam Smith’s Library: A Supplement of Bonar’s Catalogue with a checklist of the whole Library, Cambridge, University Press, 1967.