Edinburgh Housemails Taxation Book, 1634-1636

First printed edition of an inventory of Edinburgh's properties, offering a fascinating snapshot of the fabric of a seventeenth-century European capital city.

In 1633, plans were made for a new one-off tax on house-rent, or "mail", intended to pay the stipends of Edinburgh's clergy. At the request of Charles I, full power and commission was given "for passing through the whole city andtrying of what mail every tenement, dwelling house, low tavern, cellar or chamber", and an inventory was tak...