Eighteenth Century Collection of Richard L. Raymond

About the Collection

The Raymond Collection consists of 280 titles in 562 volumes. While there are 74 volumes published in the seventeenth century, the strength of the collection lies in the 460 volumes from the eighteenth century. The works of all the cultural and intellectual leaders of the eighteenth century are present from Hume to Johnson. In many cases the works that influenced their writings are also present with English translations of the noted classical writers Cicero, Horace and  Virgil. A sense of the cultural life of the century is provided by nine literary periodical. Advances in geographic knowledge, art , history, law, natural history and even the culinary arts  of the eighteenth century can be gleamed from works in the collection.

Collection Highlights

Collection highlights include the three volume set of William Camden’s Britannia (London, 1789); Rapin de Thoyras’ The history of England (London, 1732); A new royal and authentic system of universal  geography, ancient and modern (London, 1790) by Thomas Bankes; the rare folio edition of John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (1684); New Royal and Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1769); Nathan Bailey’s Dictionarium Brittanicum, or a more compleat universal etymological English dictionary than any extant (London, 1730); The works of Samuel  Johnson, LL.D. together with his life and notes on his Lives of the poets edited by Sir. John Hawkins (London, 1787); James Macpherson’s Fingal: an ancient epic poem; (London, 1742) and The works of Alexander Pope (London, 1717).

Significance

The expanding scope of intellectual inquiry experienced in the eighteenth century made it an exciting and dynamic period. The most important works required to study every aspect of it are to be found in the Raymond Collection of natural histories, travel accounts, dictionaries, histories, legal writings, religious treatises, translations of classical philosophers, poetry, and satires published in the eighteenth century. Of special interest are the many works by minor fiction writers and poets, essays, almanacs and collections of anecdotes as writings of less noted writers are coming under closer scrutiny by researchers expanding their understanding of a transformative century.

More from Vessels of Light: A Guide to Special Collections in the Killam Library, by Karen E. M. Smith.