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•Biographical notes, a copy of his memoir, correspondence regarding his memoir (1874-1932), and a draft copy of catalogue of plants (1912), copies of letters, a copy of his catalogue prepared by I.B. Balfour and William D. Kemp, and a copy of ‘Faculty of Advocates: Cabinet of Coins (James Sutherland)’ (1856)

•Box containing miscellaneous papers; 1st folder contains correspondence around Isaac Bayley Balfour's attempts to piece together elements of RBGE's history- mainly genealogical research around the Prestons, but other figures are mentioned too, including Arthur and Alston; the 2nd folder contains copies of documents used in the research such as Edinburgh Town Council Minute Books (therefor other aspects of the Garden's history are covered too; also copies of George Preston's lecture notes.

•Box containing letters and miscellaneous papers

•1 box of papers and a study of the Life of Sibbald, Dr Archibald Pitcairne (The first professors of medicine in the University of Edinburgh) also Charles Alston and John Hope.
•Copy of Doctor of Medicine R.S. ‘Provision for the Poor in Time of Dearth and Scarcity.’ Second Edition, ECCO Prints (2011).
Temporary numbering and listing (M.R.):
Box 1 of 2
• GB 235 SIB/1 Typescript copies and photocopies. Sources include Peel Ritchie, “Early Days of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh”; Sir Alexander Grant, “Story of the University of Edinburgh”; Alexander Bower, “History of the University of Edinburgh,” 1817; Andrew Dalzel, “History of the University of Edinburgh,” 1862. Subjects include the establishment of a medical school and Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh; history of the Royal College of Physicians; founding of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden; misc. descriptions of Edinburgh sites, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Arthur’s Seat, and the Physic Garden (extract from “Historical Description of the Monastery and Chapel Royal at Holyroodhouse”); life of Robert Sibbald; burning of Sibbald’s house; pensions paid to Papists; outcry against Sibbald’s desertion of the Protestant religion (extracts from Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, “The Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session” and “Historical Observes”, 1685); nomenclature of plants referred to in Sibbald’s History of Fife (extracts from Scots Magazine, 1803–1804; extracts from Sibbald’s Scotia Illustrata, with a description of the Edinburgh Physick Garden; transcript of letter from Sibbald on his “memoria Balfouriana,” June 1699; photocopy of note from W.W. Smith to J.T. Johnstone, on Sir Andrew Balfour, 1932; 2 photocopies of newspaper cutting on the unveiling of a plaque at Greyfriars Kirk to commemorate Sibbald, Sept. 1981.
• GB 235 SIB/2 Ms. letter from Raymond Morris of Balgonie & Eddergoll to the Regius Keeper, on Robert Sibbald’s connections with Balgonie, Nov. 2003, and reply from Douglas R. McKean, Nov. 2003; postcard (aerial view) of Balgonie Castle, Fife; brochure with photographs and history of Balgonie Castle.

Box 2 of 2
• GB 235 SIB/3 Binder, typescripts. Subjects include biographies of Sir Robert Sibbald, Dr. Archibald Pitcairne, Dr. Charles Alston, and Dr. John Hope; Charta Erectionis (in Latin), Charter of Ratification, and Regulations, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, 1685; Regulations respecting Medical Degrees of the University of Edinburgh. “The Author has occasionally inserted in his work Biographical Notices of various eminent Physicians and Surgeons, both in these Islands & on the Continent, who were contemporaries and correspondents of the Professors whose lives he has attempted to record.”
Note: “See the MS. volume in library, letters in pocket at back, referring to the provenance of the original work,” Sept., 1966.

Access points:
History of RBGE
History of Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh

Name access points:
Charles Alston
Sir Andrew Balfour
John Hope
Raymond Morris of Balgonie & Eddergoll
Archibald Pitcairne

• GB 235 BAL/1 Folder: "Misc. Papers"; including:
Typescripts of extracts from various sources, including
copy Biography of Andrew Balfour by Patrick Neill;
Early Days of the Royal College of Physicians by Peel Ritchie, Edinburgh;
Some Passages from the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester by Gilbert Burnett (pp4-6);
Balfour's notice in Anderson's Scottish Nation;
marriage and death notices, from Mr John Lamont’s Diary;
auctions of books belonging to Sir Andrew and his brother, Sir James, the Edinburgh Gazette, 1699;
Extracts from Foulis of Ravelston’s Account Book, 1671–1707.
• GB 235 BAL/2 Folder:
Ms. copy of extracts from Memoria Balfouriana (and English translations);
transcript of letter from Robert Sibbald regarding the Memoria Balfouriana, 1699;
“Pharmacy in Edinburgh in the Olden Time,” by James Mackenzie, The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, (1871-1872), Vol.11, pp.444-469, typescript;
founding of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, from Robert Sibbald’s autobiography, pp.20-22, typescript photocopy.

The Castle Menzies Collection comprises of accounts, bills and general receipts for the running of the Castle Menzies estate and a few pieces of correspondence with gardeners and the Baronet of the day. There are complete Head Gardener’s Journals and tool inventories for the early 1800s, seed lists from different periods and proposed plans for two different walled gardens. It also includes weather data for the late 1790s.

Listings:

MZC/1 – Accounts
Folder 1: Weekly State Proceedings at the Farm, Castle Menzies from Jan-Nov 1830, including names, work and wages. Inventory of Garden Tools for 1804 + 1805; Gardeners Journals for 1803 +1804; Weekly State of Proceedings at Garden May 1828; Nov + Dec 1832 part record; May-Nov 1833 with list of names, work and wages in each list: Wages and general receipts for 1803-1810: Receipts for agricultural machinery 1801-1841: Vegetable seed, fruit tree lists for 1800s: Plan of proposed walled garden 1838: Document in response to advice given by Sir John Sinclair about growing potatoes 1841.
Folder 2: Sir Robert Menzies “His Book” accounts for the Castle from 1805-1809, including stock sales, crop details etc. Labourers Accounts from 1803-1811 (incomplete)
Folder 3: Copy of Rules and Articles for the Improvement of Highland Farms 1774: Labour Accounts from 1790-1795 (not all complete): Seed receipts and list for 1700s and 1 plant list for 1800s: Receipts for Trees and Wood sales for 1782, 1783, 1790-1806, 1807:Receipts for peat + heather for burning in lime kilns for 1763s-1831s: General and wages receipts for 1708-1753 : Plan of proposed walled garden 1790.

MZC/2 – Weather Reports: Menzies Castle Collection – Weather records
1774- incomplete record – only parts exist for Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec.
1790- only Nov and Dec exist
1791- complete record except for 17th -28th April and 16th June -16th July
1792- Jan complete, 1st -15th Feb complete; Dec complete. Rest of year missing
1793- Jan to 16th May complete; 17th May to 30th June missing; 1st July to 31st Dec complete
1794- Jan to 16th Oct complete; 17th Oct-15th Nov missing; 16th Nov -31st Dec complete
1795- complete except for 17th Dec-31st Dec.

1 box
• Typescript and ms. copies of papers and correspondence, including descriptions of William Arthur’s petition to the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, to practise medicine; Arthur’s involvement in the Jacobite plot to seize Edinburgh Castle in 1715; copy of indentures between Mr Patrick Arthur and John Pearson (ms., Privy Council Register, 1681); extracts from various publications on the history of Edinburgh and of the 1715 rebellion; reprint of “William Arthur, M.D., Botanist to the King in Scotland, 1715–1716,” by Professor Bayley Balfour, Transactions and Proceedings, Bot. Soc. of Edinburgh, vol. 26, part 4 (1914–15) right-click, open page in new tab: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53752#page/513/mode/1up ; Arthur family genealogy.
• Scrapbook, including extracts from various publications on the Jacobite Uprising of 1715 and the attempt to seize Edinburgh Castle (see above); correspondence, including letters regarding William Arthur’s funeral expenses and burial, and correspondence regarding Arthur’s memoir on the failed attempt to capture Edinburgh Castle (1897–1915); historical notes on the rebellions of 1715 and 1745; genealogical documents on the Arthur family (of Elie), including copies of testaments and family trees. Typescripts with ms. annotations and mss.

Box 1 of 2 (A04)
•GB 235 ALS/1 “Botanist Royal,” biography of Charles Alston, by J.M. Alston. Typescript copy (London, February 1980) from the original(?), deposited in the National Library of Scotland.
•GB 235 ALS/2 Plantarum Medicinalium Etc., with ms. annotations. Text block with spine, loose front cover, missing back cover, 120 pp.
•GB 235 ALS/3 20th century copy of manuscript widow’s petition by Mrs. Alston to H.M. Treasury asking for an allowance to maintain the Physick Garden at Holyrood House, 1762.
•GB 235 ALS/4 Typescript and ms. copies of papers and correspondence, including biography of Charles Alston; history of the Alstons of Thinacre-Milne; list of Alston’s works; advertisement by John Hope for the publication of Alston’s Lectures on the Materia Medica, 1770; “Catalogus sive Index Plantarum.”
•GB 235 ALS/5 Typescript and ms. copies of papers and correspondence regarding the history of the RBGE, 1716–1909. Includes manuscript copies in Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand, of Alston's Royal Warrants from the Register of the Privy Seal, and Alston' typewritten entry from Allibone's Dictionary, and copies of letters from Kinnear (1890), and to D.W. Kemp (1904) and Britten (1909)
•GB 235 ALS/6 Typescript and ms. papers and correspondence, including biographical sketches and notes on the life of Charles Alston; catalogue of works by Alston, c. 1908–1913. includes correspondence from Isaac Bayley Balfour to Prof. Eggeling at Edinburgh University to ask permision to copy relevant information pertaining to Alston and presumably history of RBGE from documents held at the University.
•GB 235 ALS/7 Papers and correspondence, including letter from Charles Alston, 1726 (photographic copy); ms. letter to Prof Balfour from Alex. P. Stevenson regarding “the Alston M/S and the Bower,” 1907; extracts from Mackay’s Journey through Scotland (printed 1723, 1729); typescript and ms. notes on the appointment of Charles Alston as Professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Box 2 of 2 (A05) - items transcribed from Edinburgh University holdings c.1908
•GB 235 ALS/8 Typescript copies of Alston correspondence, including botanical descriptions, discussions of the “sexes of plants,” and experiments with lime water, originally dating 1715-1756. "Copies of 'Alston letters' from University Ms These are not enter[?] in the Ms Life" in Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand. Correspondents include Boerhaave, Thomas Simpson, John Mitchell, J. Fothergill, Phillip Miller, John Hawkeens, Keir, John Ellis, Archibald Hamilton, Alexander Garden, William Cullen and Richard Henderson.
•GB 235 ALS/9 Life of Charles Alston, including copies of correspondence (1724–1760). Correspondents include John Fothergill, John Hawkeens, Stephen Hales, Alexander Garden, and Philip Miller. Subjects discussed include experiments with lime water and its medicinal uses, herbal remedies, the making of elaterium (a plant extract used as a purgative), the properties of amber and ginseng, botanical lore, Materia Medica, and Alston’s hostility to the Linnaean system. Typescript with ms. corrections, 107 pp.; ms. notes entitled “Mr Jeffrey’s comparison of the MS. Life of Alston,” 4 pp.
•GB 235 ALS/10 Life of Charles Alston. Typescript copy (see above) "Alston's Life, from an old manuscript - Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand).

• Ms. lectures on botany (1803–1806?), 44 pp.; Index Stirpium Officinalium, ut in Horto Regio Botanico Edinburgensi, 2 copies, 7 pp.; 1 copy, 4 pp., C. Stewart, printer; ms. note: “Edinburgh Evening Courant, Sept. 18, 1820. Nothing to be found on last page / Column 4.” 1 p.
• Correspondence and papers, including a ms. letter petitioning H.M. Treasury for an additional allowance to maintain the Botanic Garden, 1807; two ms. letters (with wax seals) from Archibald Menzies to Prof. Rutherford regarding seeds sent by Menzies, 1789; ms. copies of two letters from Archibald Dickson to I. Bayley Balfour, 1889 (originals with I. Bayley Balfour correspondence under “Dickson, Archibald”; ms. letter from Henry Paton, genealogist, to I. Bayley Balfour, regarding an inventory of Daniel Rutherford, 1909.

•Box containing Menzies Bequest (1842-43), miscellaneous papers, correspondence and lists.
•Newspaper article titled ‘Renaissance Man’ about Archibald Menzies, celebrating the 250th anniversary of his birth, from the Courier and Advertiser, 14.08.2004