The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature. The club was established in 1823 and printed 116 volumes before being dissolved in 1861.
Contents
Membership
Membership in the Bannatyne Club was much more diverse than that found in more elite clubs such as the Roxburghe Club, including members from the publishing and printing trades in addition to lawyers. While the club was still elite, contributions by amateurs was considered valuable. This made the Bannaytne club a transitional organization between the elitism of previous clubs and the open policy of its successors. Like many Gentlemen's club's of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Bannatyne Club allowed members engage in homosocial relations. For its members, the club served to emphasize Scotland's distinct identity by publishing literary and historical texts. Between 1823 and 1827, membership expanded rapidly, increasing from thirty-one to one hundred members. Members were required to contribute five guineas each year as a membership fee.
Members
Founder members of February 7, 1823
Sir Walter Scott
Thomas Thomson
Thomas Kinnear
David Laing
William Adam of Blair Adam
Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet
James Ballantyne
William Bannatyne, Lord Bannatyne
Robert Bell
John Clerk, Lord Eldin
Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn
Archibald Constable
David Constable
Robert Dundas of Arniston
Robert Graham of Balgowan
Henry Jardine of Harwood
Rev. John Lee
James Maidment
Gilbert Laing Meason
John Murray, Lord Murray
Robert Pitcairn
Sir Samuel Shepherd
James Skene of Rubislaw
George Smythe
Patrick Fraser Tytler (1823)
Further Members admitted November 25, 1823
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto
George Chalmers
William Blair of Avonton
James T. Gibson Craig
Andrew Skene
Thomas Maitland, Lord Dundrennan
Later members
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1827)
Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1828)
Earl of Ashburnham
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland
Cosmo Innes
Rev John Jamieson (1827)
Robert Pitcairn
February 1859
The Earl of Aberdeen
William Patrick Adam, Esq
The Earl of Ashburnham
Lord Belhaven and Hamilton
William Blair
Beriah Botfield, Esq., MP
Marquess of Breadalban
Sir Thomas MakDougall Brisbane
George Brodie, Esq
Charles Dashwood Bruce, Esq
Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry
Dean Richard Butler
Sir Hugh Hume Campbell
James Campbell, Esq
Thomas Carnegy, Esq
Earl of Cawdor
Patrick Chalmers, Esq
Right Hon. Sir George Clerk
David Constable, Esq
Thomas Constable, Esq
Andrew Coventry, Esq
David Cowan, Esq
James T. Gibson Craig, Esq (Treasurer)
Sir William Gibson Craig
Marquess of Dalhousie
George Home Drummond, Esq
Publications
Full texts of the complete Bannatyne Club publications are available online through the National Library of Scotland.
Memoirs touching the Revolution in Scotland, originally published 1714, Colin Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Balcarres (1841)
The Bannatyne Miscellany; Containing Original Papers and Tracts Chiefly Relating to the History and Literature of Scotland [Published in Edinburgh] (1827)
Melville of Halhill, Sir James, Memoirs of His Own Life, ed. T. Thomson (1827)
Laing, D. ed., Original Letters relating to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland, 2 vols (Published in Edinburgh, 1851)
Siege of the Castle of Edinburgh MDCLXXXIX, presented to the Bannatyne Club by Robert Bell (1828)
The Æneid of Virgil Translated into Scottish Verse by Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, 2 vols. (1839)