A rare C17th pocket-sized edition of Horace’s Works (newly amended), issued by Turin-based Bartholomeo Zappata, with C19th Scottish provenance: the POI declaims (in Latin), “William Nairne Clark’s book — Linnkeith, Blairgowrie, June 29 – 1883 –”.
William Nairne Clark (born 1863) was the third son and child (of eleven) of David Clark/e (1804-1881) and Ann Henderson Goodlet of Rattray, Perthshire. Linnkeith House in Blairgowrie (and Rattray) was designed and built by Glasgow architect John Honeyman in 1862 for Clark/e. The large family apparently lived in some style: Linnkeith was a 2-storey, 4-bay, L-plan gabled house with Tudor detail on Balmoral Road, overlooking the River Ericht; its single storey south wing housed the billiard room, while the garden boasted a planetarium.
It’s unclear what happened to our avid inscriber, but two of his brothers would emigrate to Australia, like William’s namesake and likely distant paternal relative, William Nairne Clark (1804–1854), the public notary and publisher, birder and survivor of the first duel recorded in Western Australia, who was born in neighbouring Coupar Angus. Our William Nairne Clark would have been 20 when he inscribed his name and address, over and over, in this wee Horace.