David Wedderburne ca.1562-1634

David WEDDERNBURNE or WEDDERBURN ca.1562-1634

Biographical Note

David Wedderburne was a Dundee merchant, notable for the Compt Buik he kept between 1587 and 1630. He was the second son of Alexander Wedderburne (d.1585), town clerk of Dundee and Janet Mlyn. Weddernburne was active both in the commerce of Dundee and the town council. In May 1582 he was enrolled as a burgess of Dundee by the privilege of his father, and he served as a member of the Town Council between 1598 and 1603. In 1603 he was admitted as a notary, transacting both legal business and commerce for his clients. He married Matila Betoun, daughter of James Betoun of Westhall, in 1589, with whom he had four sons and seven daughters.

Wedderburne lived in Dundee during the burgh’s peek prosperity, and was involved in importing and exporting goods to Europe, primarily cloth, fish, and skins, though he also imported wine, oil, and other confections. He was a cultured and prosperous man, as evidenced by the paintings he imported from Holland and France, and his residence in the Overgait – one of the most fashionable streets of sixteenth century Dundee. In 1587 he made his first entry in his Compt Buik, which he used as both a business ledger, and a place to note births and deaths in his family, as well as the books he lent out, and observations on contemporary events.

Books

Wedderburne’s Compt Buik contains a record of the books he lent out to his associates in Dundee. His library is, as Paul Kaufman terms it, a “library known by its loans,” as the reconstruction of Wedderburne’s library relies exclusively on this record. Indeed, only one volume from Wedderburne’s library survives with his provenance: the “Matthews” English translation of the bible, printed in London in 1551 (GUL Sp Coll f121).

Wedderburne lent out over sixty volumes from his library; around thirty-two of these can be reasonably identified with specific titles. The contents of his library reveal a wide range of interests from practical books on navigation to books of prophesies, as well as books in Greek, a Hebrew bible, and works of history and literature. Among his borrowers were David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin, and James Robertson who was minister of the second charge of Dundee (South Church).

Other examples of his borrowers are: Alexander Clayhills, who was lent ‘my buik of Walking Sprittis’ (Comtp Buik, p.87) identified as the necromantic volume Of Ghosts and Spirites Walking by Nyght (London, 1572) by Ludvig Lavater.

The humanist Latin poet, Peter Goldman, to whom Weddernburne lent Homer and “ane uther Greek buik” (Compt Buik, p.169)

Wedderburne also lent his son-in-law James Symsone, “my Blundeville buik” on maps and navigation, to read on the voyage to Stockholm.

Other books mentioned in his Compt Buik are: Erasmus’s Paraphrases on the New Testament, works by Virgil, and a ‘buik of prophesie’ (Compt Buik, p.105) identified as John Harvey’s A Discoursive Probleme concerning Prophecies… (London, 1588).

Wedderburne’s copy of Ralph Holinshed’s Chronicles was acquired by Wedderburne as part of a debt owed to him (Compt Buik, p.189) He ordered a Baillie’s officer to seize the book from Thomas Man, as payment of a debt of his deceased father.

Characteristic Markings

It is not known whether he habitually inscribed his books, though GUL Sp Coll f121 is inscribed ‘Dauid Wedderburne Burges of Dundie. Blis Blissit God thir gestis gude.’ Throughout the Comt Buik he describes having books as “Overgilt” or “bound in Red Overgilt,” specifically mentioning that he “Lent Michell Meill my gilt ovid” (Compt Buik, p.169)

Sources

• Kaufman, Paul. 'A Library Known by its Loans' Notes and Queries, Volume 8, Issue 8, August 1961, 294–29
• Millar, A H. (ed.) Compt Buik of David Wedderburne, merchant of Dundee, 1587-1630. Together with the shipping lists of Dundee, 1580-1618, Edinburgh, Scottish History Society, 1898
• McKean, Charles. Harris, Bob. Whatley, Christopher A. Dundee Renaissance to Enlightenment. Dundee University Press, 2009.
• Poole, William. ‘Peter Goldman: A Dundee poet and physician in the Republic of Letters’ in Steven J Reid and David McOmish Neo-Latin Literature and Literary Culture in Early Modern Scotland, BRILL, 2016.
• Weddernburn, Alexander. The Wedderburn Book, A history of the Wedderburns, 2 Vols. Printed for Private Circulation, 1898