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PLAYFAIR, James. A Geographical and Statistical Description of Scotland. Containing A General Survey of that Kingdom, Its Climate, Mountains, Lakes, Rivers... And A Statistical Account of Every Parish. Accompanied by An Accurate and Elegant Map of Scotland. To Which Are Added, Several Tables to Illustrate the Work.
Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable & Co., 1819. In two volumes. First edition. With the contemporary leather bookplate of “Thomas Milne.” Tall 8vo., contemporary half calf, marble boards, leather spine labels, xii, 527; (4), 427pp. With a folding table and a large folding map of Scotland in colour at the rear of volume two. The map has an old repair to the verso and that has been reinforced with archival tape (there is a tiny spot of scuffing to the recto where the repair has been done), some foxing throughout, a 1” x 3” strip of the marble paper has been torn off the upper board of volume one, but this is still a better than very good copy of this uncommon work by James Playfair.
James Playfair (1738-1189) minister in the Church of Scotland and writer on geography. After studying at the University of St. Andrews, Playfair served in various parishes and on several occasions was offered the post of moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, but he repeatedly declined. In 1800 he was appointed the principal of the United College, St. Andrews, and it was here that the bulk of his literary output occurred. His earlier work included the two-volume System of Chronology (1784); a six volume System of Geography, Ancient and Modern (1810-14); a four volume General Atlas (1814) and the above title, Statistical Description of Scotland (1819). ‘Of these much-laboured compilations only the last remains of interest today. It is based almost entirely on the multi-volume Statistical Account of Scotland by Sir John Sinclair, to which Playfair had contributed accounts of the parishes of Meigle, Essie, and Nevay. In passages original to his own book Playfair described how he had tunnelled into ‘Dunsinnan hill' to discover the remains of Macbeth's fortress. He defended the authenticity of Ossian's poems and praised Burns, but ignored Scott, who was not yet know as the author of the Waverley Novels but had written long poems on Scottish themes. Playfair also commented interestingly on changes in the dress and manners of the highlanders since 1745.” (ODNB).