13 - Summarising: Global Knowledge in an Elite HighSchool

Summary

In 1784–1785, Alexander Adam of the High School,Edinburgh, sold fifty copies of his Summary of Geography and History,Both Ancient and Modern to CharlesElliot. This 178-page Summary condensed and compiled materialon the different nations and regions of the world.The books were printed privately for the author in1784 and were advertised as being ‘For the use ofthe Highest Class in the High School of Edinburgh’.Elliot sold them for two shillings each. Half of thelisted buyers between 1784 and 1788 were teachers orstudents. Adam spent the following decade expandingthe work into a new, 720-page edition, which wasco-published in 1794 by two London booksellers plusBell & Bradfute and Adam’s childhood friendWilliam Creech in Edinburgh. Bell & Bradfute’srecords show that this geographical Summary reached elitechildren in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland. Theyalso sold six copies to the New York booksellersFrancis Childs & Co. and two to Henry &Patrick Rice of Philadelphia.

Adam left a collection of papers and notes from when hewas working on the Summary, which shed light on hissummarising process. The records of the High Schoollibrary, too, allow for a fuller understanding ofwhat he chose to summarise. Together, these archivesafford a deep and rare insight into howEnlightenment compilations were produced. This was atime when plagiarism was economically incentivised,detailed referencing was rare and geographicalcompilations were often the work of Grub Streethacks who were paid by the page for a marketable(rather than an ̒originalʹ)product. Details would gounchanged through multiple editions, and reliance onold sources was cheaper than finding new ones. Adamwas not above copying from other publications,especially when it came to producing the maps forhis Summary, as wewill see. But he had the time, the professionalsalary and the scholarly discipline to work withwhat he considered the best and most trustworthysources to produce a compilation befitting ofEdinburgh’s august High School, where Scotland’selite sent their boys to be educated. Adam readextensively, converting the testimonies of globaltravellers into a structured summary ofknowledge.