The Abbotsford Club was a publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 society founded in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 in 1833 or 1834. This was the year after the death of Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, whose residence of Abbotsford House

Abbotsford House

Abbotsford is a historic house in the region of the Scottish Borders in the south of Scotland, near Melrose, on the south bank of the River Tweed. It was formerly the residence of historical novelist and poet, Walter Scott...

 gave the society its name, and whose literature the club's publications sought to illuminate. The club was modelled on the Roxburghe Club

Roxburghe Club

The Roxburghe Club was formed on 17 June 1812 by leading bibliophiles, at the time the library of the Duke of Roxburghe was auctioned. It took 45 days to sell the entire collection. The first edition of Boccaccio's Decameron, printed by Chrisopher Valdarfer of Venice in 1471, was sold to the...

, of which Scott himself had been a member, as well as the Bannatyne Club

Bannatyne Club

The Bannatyne Club was founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature. It printed 116 volumes in all. It was dissolved in 1861....

, which was founded by Scott, and the Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

-centred Maitland Club. The founder and first secretary of the club was William Barclay Turnbull

William Barclay Turnbull

William Barclay David Donald Turnbull was a Scottish antiquary, born at Edinburgh. He studied law, and was admitted as an advocate at the Scottish bar 1832, but devoted much time to the study of the antiquities and older literature of Great Britain. In 1834, he founded the Abbotsford Club, which...

, a young Edinburgh lawyer. The stated objective of the Abbotsford Club was "the printing of Miscellaneous Pieces, illustrative of History, Literature, and Antiquities." Through its publishing activity, the club did much to promote the proliferation of Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

literature. The Abbotsford Club effectively ceased publication in 1844.