Boleskine House is now being outfitted with a library. It’s first major acquisition is The McLean Collection, the scholarly library of the internationally respected Scottish alchemical scholar Adam McLean. The BHF website states:
This significant gift marks a major milestone in the Foundation’s mission to restore Boleskine House as a centre for heritage, learning, and academic study of esoteric traditions.
Adam McLean is widely recognised as one of the most influential figures in modern alchemical scholarship. Over more than five decades, his work as an editor, translator, researcher, and publisher has transformed access to historical alchemical and Hermetic sources. Through initiatives such as The Hermetic Journal, Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, and The Alchemy Website, McLean has consistently championed serious engagement with primary texts, emblematic imagery, and historical context, reshaping the field internationally.
The McLean Collection reflects this lifetime of scholarship. It is a substantial working research library comprising rare books, facsimiles, early modern alchemical and Hermetic texts, emblem books, translations, and key secondary studies. As a coherent archive, the collection documents how alchemical knowledge was written, illustrated, interpreted, and transmitted from the early modern period to the present day. It stands not merely as a personal library, but as a record of scholarly methods grounded in source-based, comparative, and visual analysis.
The acquisition of the McLean Collection places this important body of material within a setting of exceptional historical and symbolic resonance. Boleskine House has long been associated with esoteric inquiry and the intellectual history of Western Hermeticism. Integrating the collection into the House’s developing library ensures that these materials will be preserved, curated, and made accessible within a context that reflects their cultural and historical significance.
Crucially, the gift aligns with Adam McLean’s long-standing commitment to access over private ownership. His pioneering work in making alchemical texts and images freely available online has profoundly shaped modern scholarship. Donating his physical library to the Boleskine House Foundation continues this ethos, safeguarding the collection for future generations of researchers, students, artists, and scholars.
The Foundation will now begin the careful cataloguing and conservation of the McLean Collection, with plans to integrate it into Boleskine House’s emerging research library. Further announcements regarding access, research use, and public engagement are available on our website.
This acquisition represents a significant step in establishing Boleskine House not only as a site of restoration, but as a place of enduring intellectual stewardship.
