Hunterian Club

Overview

According to its listing in Charles Sanford Terry’s A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, the Hunterian Club was founded ‘for the reproduction of the works of Scottish writers of Elizabethan times‘.

(Terry, Charles Sanford, A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, and of the volumes relative to Scottish history issued by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1780-1908, with a subject index (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1909), p. 92)

It is question of debate whether or not this club should be included in this list of ‘literary’ societies. The Hunterian Club is a book club (used in the historical sense, aka a printing club or text publication society), wherein subscription fees were pooled to acquire rare, old and/or out-of-print materials considered to be of historic and literary value, and to have these reprinted. These reprinted books might then be distributed to the club members (as per agreement upon payment of the subscription) or could be sold to members at a reduced cost, or even sold to the public. This club is included here as the group’s intention was to encourage the study of historic texts thought to be of importance to Scottish literary culture.

Date of Existence

1871-1902?

Source of Information

Terry, Charles Sanford, A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, and of the volumes relative to Scottish history issued by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1780-1908, with a subject index (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1909), pp. 92-3

Repository

There are copies available at the University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde:

University of Glasgow Library (UGL)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

University of Strathclyde Library (USL)

University of Strathclyde Special Collections (USSC)

Reference Number

History Bibliog DV300 1909-T 1780-1908 (UGL)

Sp Coll Mu7-c.19 (UGSC)

D 016.9141 TER (USL)

Robertson Collection D 016.9141 MAT (USSC)

Additional Notes