The collection of John Glen (1833-1904), member of a well-known Edinburgh firm of musical instrument makers, which specialised in bagpipes. When Glen's father retired from business in 1866, he and his brother Robert continued the business, also publishing books on bagpipe music. John Glen became an authority on Scots music and was the compiler of 'The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music' (1891-1895), and author of 'Early Scottish Melodies' (1900). There are around 900 items in 412 volumes, including six manuscripts; the printed material consists mainly of collections of Scottish songs and music of the 18th and the early 19th century, including music for the Highland bagpipe.

Organisation

The books have been catalogued individually and have the shelfmark 'Glen.'.

Acquisition

After John Glen's death his collection was acquired by Lady Dorothea Ruggles-Brise, daughter of the 7th Duke of Atholl. She in turn presented it to the Library in 1927 in memory of her brother Major Lord George Stewart-Murray, who had been killed in action in France in 1914.

Related collections

The manuscripts are held at MSS.3296-3302. They are described and indexed in Vol. 2 of the Library's Catalogue of manuscripts.

References

The pre-1801 items are recorded in the British Union Catalogue of Early Music.

'The National Library of Scotland: music manuscripts and special collections of printed music', TA Cherry, R Duce, M Simpson and I Maciver, Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 47, No. 1 (January-March 2000), 3-9.

Online resources

Digital images of items in the Glen Collection