ABSTRACT
Three versions of Allan Ramsay's 'Enquiry' survive. They are located in the National Library of Scotland (NLS); the Edinburgh University Library (EUL); and the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The NLS manuscript was presented to the Library in 1932 by The Hon. The EUL manuscript was presented to the Library under the bequest of the distinguished bookseller, librarian and collector, David Laing, who died in 1878. Examination of the UCLA version shows that it was written by an amanuensis and fitted out with finished drawings of the illustrations he intended to use. The manuscripts represent work done largely in the 1770s, although it is evident that they must comprehend also the results of Ramsay's topographical explorations and his thinking about the subject during his final visit to the region. The changes between the EUL and UCLA manuscripts are few and not substantive.
