This article investigates the reception of agricultural improvement in the Scottish Borders, arguing that useful books and improving socialisation were mutually reinforcing in the Selkirk Subscription Library. Agricultural books were borrowed by farmers, clergymen, lawyers and medical men, who collaborated to found local debating societies and sponsor the production of improving literature. Their commitment to agricultural improvement is shown to have been one of several cultures of improvement in circulation at Selkirk, some dedicated to practical works of moral improvement and the cultivation of politeness in young minds, some to the patronage of local writers, local history and local traditions
