Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Coatbridge, 1875

Book entitled Poetical Works Of Sir Walter Scott, presented to Elizabeth Ballantyne at Gartsherrie Works School in 1875 for sewing and general excellence. The school was built to educate the children of employees of Baird's Gartsherrie Ironworks.

Books - or book tokens - have traditionally been awarded as prizes to school students because of their educational value. Before free public libraries became widespread in the late 1800s and early 1900s, working class access to literature would have been limited to either a workers' subscription library or perhaps a few books in the home - depending on what could be afforded or prioritised by the houehold budget. A well-made and attractively bound publication like this might be worth several weeks' worth of a household's disposable income. Consequently they were often quite highly prized as personal possessions.