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.
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...
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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 five texts written by three different hands.ff. 1r-48r: 'Confessionale: Omnis mortalium cura' or 'Specchio di coscienza' ('Confessional: all the concerns of humans' or 'Mirror of Conscience') by Saint Antoninus, Archbishop of Florenceff. 48v-70v: 'Trattato della mondizia del cuore' ('Treatise on the Purity of the Heart') by Domenico Cavalcaff. 71r-80r: 'Conflictus vitiorum atque virtutum' ('The Contest between Vices and Virtues') by Ambrosius...
Contents
This manuscript is a miscellany of texts associated with Ramon Llull, a 13th century philosopher. It is 15th century and probably Italian. The contents are as follows:ff. 1r-10v: Ars generalis ultima by Ramon Llullff. 12r-14v: Liber de Accidente et Substantia by Ramon Llullff. 15r-22r: Alphabetum puerile logices by Ramon Llullff. 22v-23r: ...
Contents
This manuscript is a composite manuscript containing three main texts and some miscellaneous notes. It was made in Italy in the 15th century, probably at or for the Aragonese Library in Naples. It is a collection of texts about Greek and Roman history and learning.The contents are as follows:Flyleaves: Some notes, poems, etcetera, in Latin and Greek (italic hand) on two vellum fly-leavesff. 1v-2r: Two miniatures (see “Illumination”)f. 2v: Note...
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MS 144 contains the texts by early Christian monk and theologian, John Cassian, in the same hand.ff. 1r-45v: 'De institutis coenobiorum', by Johannus Cassianus [John Cassian]ff. 45v-103v: incomplete 'Collationes patrum in scetica eremo', by Johannus Cassianus [John Cassian]The texts are described separately, under MS 144/ff. 1r-45v; MS 144/ff. 45v-103v. Writing Written in a clear Gothic hand. There are...
Contents
Contains nine texts bound together, in different hands.Of note, the endpaper at the beginning of the manuscript is an interesting fragment from an Antiphoner of the 9th or 10th century. The other endpaper is a textual fragment too, although from later that the 9th/10th centuries.ff. 1r-8v: Bull of Pope Honorius III to Saint Francis and the brothers of the Orderff. 9r-13r: Bull of Pope Gregory IXff. 14r-50r: Bull of Pope Nicholas III from 1279,...
Scope and Contents
A composite manuscript connected with the Benedictine Monastery of San Lorenzo, in the Castello neighbourhood of Venice. The first text was commissioned by the Abbess Cipriana Michiel. The texts are preceded by a table of contents which appears to be an addition and which includes detailed heading for the first four texts (all written by the same hand). The table of contents starts on f. iiir. It is introduced by the rubric Al nome del nostro Signore Jesu Chisto....
Contents
MS 191 contains two texts by the fifteenth-century Italian, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II from 1458-1464). The volume is divided into two parts, the first containing letters by Piccolimini, and the second, the text De miseria curialium. These will be described separately, under 'MS 191/ff. 1-97' and 'MS 191/ff. 99-115'. Writing A fine, uniform minuscule, written on fine vellum, with wide margins....
