An unusual and scarce collection of ten nineteenth-century Scottish pamphlets and essays, published in Edinburgh by Edmonston and Douglas between 1865 and 1867, principally drawn from their Odds and Ends series. Bringing together a remarkably diverse selection of subjects, the collection encompasses Scottish history and religion, Highland rural life, penal reform, education, literature, book collecting and early scientific experimentation. Contributors include the distinguished Scottish physician and essayist John Brown, the historian James Anthony Froude, and Robert Buist, whose account of the pioneering salmon-breeding experiments at Stormontfield on the River Tay is of particular historical interest. The latter work has a notable connection with Charles Darwin, who corresponded with Buist about his observations of salmon and subsequently cited his research in The Descent of Man (1871). Another particularly appealing inclusion is Bibliomania, an essay on the collecting and appreciation of books, while John Brown's The Enterkin recalls an episode from Scotland's turbulent Covenanting history. Together these separately published works form a fascinating miscellany of Victorian Scottish intellectual and cultural life, preserved in an attractive contemporary half-leather binding. Comprising: Convicts by a Practical Hand, 1865;  The Enterkin, by John Brown, M.D., 1865;  Essays by an Old Man, No. 1, In Memoriam - Vanitas Vanitatum - Friends, 1865;  Address delivered before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh on 3d November; The Influence of the Reformation on the Scottish Character, by James Anthony Froude, 1865;  Letters on the Education of Young Children, by S.G.O., 1866;  The Stormontfield Piscicultural Experiments 1853-1866, by Robert Buist, 1866;  A Tract for the Times, 1866;  The Highland Shepherd, by the Author of ‘Sheep Framers and Drovers’, 1867;  Bibliomania, 1867; and;  ‘Cakes, Leeks, Puddings and Potatoes’, A Lecture on the Nationalities of the United Kingdom, by George Seton, Advocate, 1865. All printed by Thomas Constable for Edmonston and Douglas of Edinburgh, 1865-1867. A good (plus) hardback with dark green leather spine and corners. With an attractive red Morocco title label design to the spine with gilt. Boards with marbled paper. Covers are scuffed and bumped. Marbled endpapers, with front inner hinge starting to crack, but binding still secure. Some spotting to endpapers and occasional light scattered spot to text, but overall text is bright and clean. Most of the works inside the book have illustrated title pages. A rare curio. 32pp + 32pp + 29pp + 32pp + (iv + 5-39pp) + 32pp + 31pp + 64pp + 39pp + 36pp. Dimensions: Approximately 166mm high x 118mm wide x 29mm. Weight: approximately 389g.