With the sketchbook turned to the left, scattered across the page are sketches of architectural details: mainly doors and windows, but also signs and decorative features; and inscriptions describing the architecture (‘4 windows’) and transcribing shop signs.
[?]Mark and John Mackensay f[...] p[...] yellow
Wm [?]Marshbank & [...] [...] Smith High P [?]Crmw
[?]Tea [?]hourly [?]works J Swinton G[...] [?]Warbrown
Tea
Spirits
Wines
[?]Town
Door under the
Window
Door under the Town
4 windows
Th[...] O[...]
Edinburgh
The
[...]
[...]
[...]
Some of the fragments are clearly ecclesiastical, such as two details of an arched window in the centre of the page, and what may be stained-glass or ornate panelling below. At the bottom right of the page is a Doric column with the corner of a pediment above. Other elements are probably domestic, like the two windows at the top of the page, one of which seems to have items hanging from it as in a shop. The ‘door under the window’ at the bottom left, could equally be the side door to a church, or, for example, to a public house. There are several signs: a shield-shaped panel at the upper right – presumably belonging to an inn – next to which is inscribed, ‘Tea | Spirits | Wines’, and an ornate oval sign at the bottom of the page with indecipherable inscription. At the bottom of the page is a building with arches that are either arched windows, or a colonnade.
An inscription below these sketches on the opposite page (folio 66 verso;
D13578), referring to Edinburgh’s ‘New Town’, could point to where these architectural features were seen, however, their character is probably more in keeping with the Old Town.
Thomas Ardill
January 2008
