Macklin’s Books

This chapter analyses the content of Macklin’s large library, and it considers how his book collecting tendencies may be read as indicators of his personal, professional and scholarly interests and of his position within eighteenth-century intellectual circles. The study rests on close examination of two catalogues, one in manuscript form and one printed, which were produced in connection with the posthumous auction of the collection in 1797. These auction catalogues present the content of the library while also providing insights into how the collection was arranged and used in Macklin’s home. By considering Macklin’s bibliophilia and the social use of his books, the chapter argues that, alongside his work as an actor and playwright, Macklin had a noteworthy role in the intellectual culture of his time, albeit that he was not accepted by all of his peers and that few material traces of this engagement with Enlightenment thought were left behind.