Agricultural History Review, Volume 54 Part 1 (2006), pp. 45–78

This paper focuses on aspects of the circulation of Scottish agricultural books in the eighteenth century to 1790. In viewing the books as an object of material culture, it considers a range of factors which affected their circulation: the progress of agricultural development, the rise of the Scottish book trades (and the demand for books), the methods that were available to publish books, the ability to read, the cost of books and their reputation. It concludes with a survey of the subscribers to a selection of agricultural books. These show that the range of people who purchased and read agricultural books widened, especially between the 1760s and 1790s. 

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