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Record Number: 5540

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Marginalia]: several pencil annotations (some fading to illegibility) throughout text, usually of the form of a marked item within the text followed by annotation in the margin e.g. p.13 Text =: "Is the difference in the minds of men the effect of their different organisations or education? *That is the object of my inquiry". ms note =: "*In part it is, in part it is not"; p. 101 Text = "As long as man * is sensible, he has soul", ms note = "has any feeling" (in ink). P. 30 has a lengthy comment on Milton.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

Scotland or India

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

John Drummond Erskine

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

Apr 1776

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

East India Company Writer (Bengal) and later a landowner

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland or India

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Helvetius

Title:

A treatise on man, his intellectual faculties and his education. A posthumous work of M. Helvetius. Translated from the French, with additional notes, by W. Hooper

Genre:

Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Hooper. W. (trans.), London: B. Law and G. Robinson, 1777

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

5540

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

Annotated volume in the Dunimarle Library of the Erskines of Torrie in Fife: Helvetius; Hooper. W. (trans.), "A treatise on man, his intellectual faculties and his education. A posthumous work of M. Helvetius. Translated from the French, with additional notes, by W. Hooper", London: B. Law and G. Robinson, 1777, [DH LIB 1058].

Additional Information:

n/a

Citation:

Annotated volume in the Dunimarle Library of the Erskines of Torrie in Fife: Helvetius; Hooper. W. (trans.), "A treatise on man, his intellectual faculties and his education. A posthumous work of M. Helvetius. Translated from the French, with additional notes, by W. Hooper", London: B. Law and G. Robinson, 1777, [DH LIB 1058]. , http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=5540, accessed: 03 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

The item is in the Dunimarle Library of the Erskines of Torrie, Fife but as with many items in the collection it appears to have had a previous owner. The identity of the annotator is thus uncertain. However the style and subject area matches with other items in the library clearly attributed to John Drummond Erskine.