New County Hall, and Advocate's Library, Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

18693

Title

New County Hall, and Advocate's Library, Edinburgh

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Lizars

Date

1829

Size

10.2 x 15.8 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

The Advocate's Library was founded in 1682 by Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh. In 1710 it became a legal deposit library, giving it the right to request a copy of every book published in the country. In 1925 the majority of the Advocate's Library collection was passed to the newly created National Library of Scotland. The Advocate's Library retained legal material.

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