A visit to the Library of Innerpeffray, near the Perthshire town of Crieff, is a must for history and book lovers. Founded around 1680 by David Drummond, third Lord Madertie, it is the oldest public lending library in Scotland. The library initially comprised Drummond’s personal collection of books which he stored in the 16th-century St Mary’s Chapel and made available to local people to borrow free of charge.

In the mid-1700s, Robert Hay Drummond commissioned a new building for the library adjacent to the chapel and the books are housed there still. On a recent visit, we were greeted as we arrived by Lara Haggerty, Keeper of the Books, who explained the origins of the library, its expansion into the current building and some of the highlights of the collection. Before we started the tour, we got to choose a souvenir bookmark featuring woodcut illustrations from some of the collection’s 16th and 17th century books, and emboss it with the library’s stamp.