Mackay, Aeneas James George, 1839-1911 (Scottish lawyer, academic and antiquarian collector)
Dates
- Existence: 1839 - 1911
Biography
Aeneas J.G. Mackay (1839-1911). Educated at the Edinburgh Academy, at King's College London and the Universities of Oxford, Heidelberg and Edinburgh, he held the Chair of Constitutional History at the University of Edinburgh from 1874 until 1881. He was awarded an LLD by the University in 1882 and founded the Scottish History Society in 1885. He devoted the rest of his life to the practice of law, notably as Sheriff of Fife and Kinross from 1886 until 1901, as well as farming and forestry.
He bequeathed his collection to the University of Edinburgh of some 4,000 volumes mainly on history, literature and law but also including items on many other subjects. Scottish books feature strongly but there are also key works in French and English literature, including a copy of Spenser’s 1611 'Faerie Queene'.