Housed in a 17th-century tenement in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, the collection includes rare books and manuscripts, paintings, prints, sculpture and photography — along with antiquities, decorative objects, textiles, furniture and items from nature. While focusing on what Zachs describes as the ‘very long 18th century’, the collection ranges from the medieval period to the present day. 

Hundreds of people of all ages visit each year — both in person and online. Blackie House Library and Museum hosts a range of activities, including teaching, scholarship, exhibitions, publications, artistic collaborations, lending, films and interviews, seminars, lectures, performances, tea-drinking, and the popular Blackie House ‘Sunday Salons’.