Glimpses of old Glasgow

Preface

IMMEDIATELY after the issue of my "Reminiscences of Printers and Printing" (1830-90), which was printed for private circulation, I was frequently asked and urged to give further remembrances of my native City. The subject was thus kept before me; and, as leisure permitted, memories of over half a century were jotted down, together with brief sketches of Clergymen and Laymen with whom I had been associated or had come in contact. The result is now embodied in the present volume.

Since I first saw the light in 1819, marvellous has been the progress and great the changes which have taken place in Glasgow. Almost the whole features of the City have been transformed. From the earliest times, when it was but a semi-rural burgh, it has never ceased to grow in size and increase in importance. By the enterprise of her sons stately buildings now cover what were once but fertile fields; by the inventive genius and skill of her engineers and shipbuilders the Clyde stands unrivalled for its workmanship; and through the intelligence and public spirit of her civic and commercial leaders the trade of the City has increased at a rapid rate. Indeed, as a shipping, mercantile, and industrial centre it has few rivals.

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The book lays claim to no literary merit, beyond noticing and contrasting the developments in the City's early history, and gathering together from memory's storehouse personal recollections of what Glasgow was sixty years ago.

The volume does not pretend to be a history, but simply "Glimpses of Old Glasgow" streets, squares, lanes, and important buildings, with memorabilia and interesting facts connected with the City's progress. The book has grown much beyond my original intention, yet many topics of deepest interest have been left untouched.

I desire gratefully to express indebtedness for kindly services to Messrs. F. T. Barrett, James Fleming, A. D. Jamieson, James Paton, David Pollock, John Robertson, Robert Wilson, and also to R. S. Wishart, M.A., for his interesting article on Botany.

Should these "Glimpses" afford pleasure or instruction to my readers, or be the means of recalling and preserving eventful scenes and circumstances of bygone days, I will feel amply repaid.

A. AIRD

October, 1894.