French and English poetry. Ramage (1907-1986) was a leading bibliographer and librarian, and one of his memorials is the ongoing collection purchased with funds he left to the University. Born in Leith, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1929 with a first-class honours degree in English literature and language. A scholar in French and English, a minor poet, and an historical bibliographer with particular interests in early printed books and private presses, he was appointed Deputy Librarian (1930-1936), and later Librarian of the University of Durham (1945-1967), spending the intervening years as Deputy Librarian of the University of St Andrews. He compiled a 'Finding-list of English books to 1640' (1958) and was Editor of 'The Durham Philobiblon', a charming, eclectic and occasional bulletin of bibliography which ran from 1949 until 1969. In 1987, under the terms of David Ramage's will, Edinburgh University Library received over £99,000 “towards the acquisition of a research collection of editions of French and English poetry”. The interest on this endowment provides for the purchase of books of poetry in French and English. Some of these volumes are on open access; rarer and more fragile pamphlet items are kept in Special Collections with shelfmarks “CS”, “CSF”, CSP” and “Ram.”. Among the particularly rare and ephemeral items is a fine set of the subversive and elusive 1960s periodical 'The English Intelligencer'. There are about 3,000 items in the collection, many of which are in the online catalogue. This article was published on 2024-08-21
