Links
There is a huge range of material available on mid-19th century Edinburgh. While some primary sources have now been digitised and are available on the web, most are still unavailable outside archives, and many of the books consulted are long out of print.
Printed Material - a short selection of books currently in print.
A century of the Scottish People, 1830-1950 by TC Smout provides a good introduction to the period in Scotland.
Twelve Scots Trials by William Roughead. Good introduction to Scots legal history.
The Healers: a history of medicine in Scotland by David Hamilton provided interesting information about the state of medicine in Scotland at that time.
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes has become the standard history of the transportation of convicts.
Online Material
The New Statistical Account is now available online. The chapter on Edinburgh, written in 1843, gives a comprehensive description of the city at that date.
The National Library of Scotland has digitised many maps, and in particular, Johnson's Plan of Edinburgh & Leith 1851 is particularly relevant.
An excellent feel for Edinburgh in the late 1840s was gained from reading appropriate editions of The Scotsman on microfiche. A subscription based service is now available to view the newspaper archive here.
Online Resources
The National Register of Archives is a wonderful resource when searching for material.
The National Archives of Scotland
The Edinburgh Room City of Edinburgh Library Service
Med Hist, the main directory for links to history of medicine sites.