This is a collection of 84 books relating to the island of Sri Lanka (previously known as Ceylon) collected by the late Alexander Mackie, a Scottish tea-planter in Sri Lanka between 1956 and 1971. The books were published between 1900 and 1975 and were primarily assembled during the years that Mr. Mackie lived on the island. The materials cover a wide range of subjects: the development and maintenance of tea plantations and also the political, natural, recreational and social history of Sri Lanka. The collection is an especially valuable resource for information on the development of coffee and tea plantations on the island, aspects of the period of colonialism, and the subsequent nationalisation of plantations in the early 1970s.

Organisation

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

Acquisition

Alexander Mackie's widow, Mrs Catherine Mackie, presented the collection to the Library in 2000.

Related collections

Along with the books there are also 23 black and white photographs, which are now in the archive and manuscript collections, and are held at Acc.11913.