Reading the Scottish Enlightenment: Books and Their Readers in Provincial Scotland, 1750 1820

Drawing on a range of methodologies associated with the history of reading, this book explores the reception of the Scottish Enlightenment, assessing the impact that major texts had on the lives, beliefs and habits of mind of contemporary readers. It has become commonplace in recent decades for scholars to identify in the books of the Scottish Enlightenment the intellectual origins of the modern world, but little attention has yet been paid to its impact on contemporary readers. Drawing on a range of innovatory methodologies associated with the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of the history of reading, this book explores the reception of books by David Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson and Thomas Reid (amongst many others), assessing their impact on the lives, beliefs and habits of mind of readers across the social scale. In the process, the book offers a fascinating new perspective on the fundamental importance of personal reading experiences to the social history of the Enlightenment.