Museum staff are encouraging people to celebrate the 300th anniversary of world-renowned philosopher Adam Smith by checking out artefacts linked to Kirkcaldy’s greatest son.
Highlights at Kirkcaldy Galleries include a rare first edition of Smith’s landmark text on economics – An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Also on show is a snuff box bearing Smith’s initials and a pewter inkwell said to be used as he wrote The Wealth of Nations.
Gallery-goers can see two of the few surviving images of Smith – a medallion by the sculptor James Tassie and a copy of an engraving by the caricaturist John Kay.
Beside them is a portrait by the German artist Conrad Metz of Smith’s mother, Margaret Douglas, who was widowed just weeks before Smith’s birth.
Although departed, Smith’s father – the Comptroller of Customs at Kirkcaldy’s thriving harbour – left his imprint on Smith’s work.
Next to Margaret’s portrait is a copy of a drawing of the house at 220 High Street – now demolished – where Smith grew up and, from which, he made the short walk each day to the Burgh School.
Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations on 9 March 1776. By then a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, which had its epicentre in Edinburgh, he wrote much of it at his home in Kirkcaldy.
The town informed Smith’s ideas and he used the process of pin making at a local factory to explain the effects of the division of labour – a principal theme of the book.
The self-effacing Smith’s celebrity grew with its publication. During his life he travelled Europe and held professorships at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, but he never cut his ties with his home town.
Visitors can access audio recordings offering perspectives on Smith and his influence – among them are interviews with former Prime Minister and Chancellor Gordon Brown, who grew up in the town.
Curators from the cultural charity OnFife, which runs Kirkcaldy Galleries, are also inviting people to view seven books from Smith’s personal library.
A viewing day is being held on 27 July at OnFife’s Collections Centre in Glenrothes, where the texts are stored. To book a slot, or arrange a viewing on another day, email museums.enquiries@onfife.com
They include a school text book, signed by Smith in 1733, and a volume by the philosopher John Locke that includes Smith’s own hand-written annotations –providing rare insights into the workings of a great mind.
OnFife Collections Team Leader Gavin Grant says: “Very few artefacts associated with Adam Smith survive, so these personal objects have an extra resonance during this special anniversary year.
“It’s amazing to think that the inkwell and snuff box in our display would have been by Smith’s side as he wrote what is arguably the most important work of economics ever produced.”
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For further information contact Sheona Small, press officer, 07809 727 989 or email sheona.small@onfife.com
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