Itinerating Library Box

Samuel Brown, known as the 'philanthropist of Haddington', championed the social, educational, and religious welfare of his townsfolk. In 1817, he introduced 'itinerating libraries', each stocked with 50 books, which were sent to nearby parishes. By 1836, there were 47 sets circulating. They contained books that had a moral or religious tendency, or were about travel, agriculture and mechanical arts. Haddington's Cheap Magazine, A General History of the Christian Church by John Brown, and the Farmers Magazine are some contemporary local volumes which might have been included, so they have been shown in place.