David Laing, eminent historian, antiquary and bibliographer, was the second son of the Edinburgh bookseller William Laing (1764-1832) and his wife Helen Kirk, and was born on 20 April 1793. He was educated at the Canongate Grammar School and later on attended Greek classes at the University of Edinburgh. At the age of fourteen, he became apprenticed to his father who, at the time, was the only bookseller in Edinburgh dealing in foreign literature. Laing was able, occasionally, to travel abroad in search of rare or curious books. In 1821, he became a partner in his father's business and throughout his life he was an avid collector of manuscripts and rescued many from destruction. The first published work of his own was Auctarium Bibliothecae Edinburgenae sive Catalogus Librorum quos Gulielmus Drummondus ab Hawthornden D.D.Q. Anno 1627 (1815). Among other works, Laing also reprinted Thomas Craig's Epithalamium on the marriage of Darnley and Mary Stuart (1821). When Sir Walter Scott founded the Bannatyne Club in 1823 for the printing of material and tracts relating to Scottish history and literature, Laing - a friend of Scott's - became Secretary of the Club and chief organiser until its dissolution in the 1860s. Laing was also associated with the Abbotsford Club, the Spalding Club, and the Wodrow Society, each of which had been set up for the publication of manuscripts and for the revival of old texts. When the keepership of the Advocates' Library fell vacant in 1818, Laing was a candidate but was not elected. He became Keeper of the Library to the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet, a post which he occupied from 1837 until his death. On his appointment to the post, he gave up his business as a bookseller and disposed of the stock in a public sale. Laing died at Portobello, in Edinburgh, on 18 October 1878.
Scope and Contents
MS La.III.522 is a composite manuscript of late-sixteenth and/or early-seventeenth century pieces of calligraphy, assembled by a later collector. The bulk of the manuscript is a combination of two different calligraphic alphabets with sample-texts, which follow the aspect and structure of early-modern writing-books. One of these decorative alphabets is composed of gothic, knotwork intials, while the other is structured by Roman capital letters against backgrounds of delicate, swirling vines....
Scope and Contents
The manuscript contains three different texts, all in the same hand.ff. 1r-96v: Liber de laudibus beate Marie Virginis ('Book of the praises of the Virgin Mary') attributed to Vincent de Beauvais;ff. 97r-118r: part of a breviary with the readings of the Officum Parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis ('Little Office of Our Lady' or 'Hours of the Virgin');ff. 119r-164r: a collection of excerpts from...
Contents
The manuscript is a 15th-century composite containing works relating to virgin saints. It is German or Dutch. The works contained within it are detailed separately below.ff.1r-40v: Revelatio Nova Itineris et Passionis Undecim Milium Virginum Martyrum (The Passion of the Eleven Thousand Virgins). This text is related to Saint Ursula.ff.40v-72v: Vita et Legenda Beate Katherine Virginis (The Life and...
Contents
Contains two texts bound together, in five different hands.The manuscript is a Sarum Breviary with a full Sarum Litany, and a Kalendar. This is in four different hands.Additionally, ff.ir-iiv and ff.231v-232v feature a Chronicle of Scottish History.The texts are described separately, under MS 27/ff. ir-iiv, 231v-232v and MS 27/ff. 1r-482v. Writing The script is good and...
Contents
Contains two texts, written in different hands.ff. 1r-166r: 'De Perseverantia' by Maffeo Vegio [De Perseverantia Religionis]ff. 167r-190v: 'Ad Stagirium a Daemonio Vexatum' by John ChrysostomThe texts are described separately, under MS 84/ff. 1r-166r and MS 84/ff. 167r-190v. Writing The Vegius is written in a clear sloping italic hand which grows smaller at the end. The...
Contents
Contains five different texts, all five in the same hand.ff. 1r-13v: ‘Meditationes’ [incomplete] by Pseudo-Augustine of Hippoff. 14r-107r: ‘Meditationes’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 107r-117v: ‘Speculum Peccatorum’ff. 118r-129r: Meditationsf. 129r: ‘Enarrationes in Psalmos’ [incomplete] by Augustine of HippoThe texts are described separately, under MS 90/ff. 1r-13v; MS 90/ff. 14r-107r; MS 90/ff. 107r-117v; MS...
Contents
Contains four different texts, in two different hands.ff. 1r-53v: ‘Hexameron’ by Basil of Caesareaff. 53v-97v: ‘De Conditione Hominis’ by Gregory of Nyssaff. 98r-116r: ‘De Anima’ by Cassiodorusff. 116v-119v: Sermon on the Sacrament of the AltarThe texts are described separately, under MS 100/ff.1r-53v; MS 100/ff.53v-97v; MS 100/ff. 98r-116r; MS 100/ff. 116v-119v. Writing The first...
Contents
Contains two texts bound together, both in the same hand.ff. 1r-27r: 'Manuale'('Manual') attributed to Augustine of Hippoff. 27v-332v: 'Sermo de miseria humana' ('Sermon on human misery') attributed to Bernard of ClairvauxThe texts are described separately, under MS 103/ff. 1r-27r; and MS 103/ff. 27v-32v. Writing Written in good Italian minuscule. ...
Contents
Contains fourteen texts mainly by Anselm of Canterbury, in several different hands.ff. 1r-39r: ‘Cur Deus Homo’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 39r-55r: ‘De Conceptu Virginali’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 55r-89v: ‘Monologion’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 89r-101r: ‘De Fide Trinitatis’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 101r-104v: ‘Meditatio Nostre Redemptionis’ by Anselm of Canterbury [Meditatio de Humana Redemptione]ff. 104v-107v:...
Contents
Contains two texts, in several different hands.ff. 1r-12v: ‘De Operibus Trium Dierum’ by Hugh of Saint Victor, also known as De Tribus Diebusff. 12v-35v: Collection of sermons, aphorisms, quotations, and sentences by several different authors including Hugh of Saint Victor, Martin of Braga, and HildebertThe texts are described separately, under MS 105/ff.1-12 and MS 105/ff. 12v-36v. ...
