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.
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The manuscript contains the gospel of Saint John according to the text of the Vulgate and a set of glosses [i.e. annotations and comments] to the whole text. These include both marginal and interlinear glosses. The text is not complete, but ends at John 19:, verse 36.The gospel is preceded by the monarchian prologue, so called because it relates to the monarchian doctrine, which saw God as one person. It accompanies several extant copies of the Vulgate, although its text is not...
Content
It contains the text of the letters of Saint Paul. There is no prologue and the text immediately begins with the first letter. The text is accompanied by a set of glosses [i.e. annotations and comments] to the whole text. These include both marginal and interlinear glosses. Marginal glosses can be found also on the superior and inferior margins.The majority of the letters are preceded by an argumentum, a short text which records Paul's reason for...
Scope and Contents
Book of Hours in Latin from the 15th century, of French origin. The Use is not identified, but is not Besançon or Clermont. It may be peculiar to the Abbey of S. Claude, Condat, to which both Kalendar and Litany particularly belong (see the local saints reported under their respective headings).Golden Numbers: on fly-leaf. These are numbers assigned to each year in sequence in a 19-years cycle and are used in order to calculate the date of Easter. Each number...
Scope and Contents
Book of Hours in Latin from the 15th century following the Use of Sarum. It was probably written for use in the diocese of Lincoln, but the illumination is French, and possibly the hand also (see local saints in the Kalendar for the connection with Lincoln).Kalendar: starts on f. 1r. Contains commemorations of Saints and Martyr, and other festivities (the most important are written in red). Miniatures illustrate activities linked to the season.The...
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Book of Hours, use of Toul. It is of French origin (Toul) and is from the 15th-16th century, but based on external evidence is probably from after 1499. Inserted into the first border there is a coat of arms of Anne of Brittany, Queen of France. She married Charles VIII of France in 1491 and later his successor, Louis XII in 1499. External evidence suggests that the book must have been written for her after her marriage with Louis XII. It is curious, however, that none of the prayers have...
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This manuscript contains 92 sermons in several different hands.A title on f. 1r reads: Incipiunt Sermones Provinciales. Dominica prima in Adventu Domini. The text starts on f. 1r with the following opening words: Hora est jam nos de sompno surgere. Est triplex sompnus ignorantie. And ends on f. 106v with the following words: salientes magnas foveas uno [?] ...
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This major text contained in this manuscript is Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae, one of the most important texts of the Middle Ages, which was probably originally written around the start of the 7th century. It is accompanied by other related works in this manuscript, which dates from the 12th or 13th century and was probably made in Lucelle, France. The contents are as follows:ff. 1r-144v: Etymologiae by Isidore...
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This manuscript was created in 1459 by a German scribe, Marquard Rode, in Paris. It contains versions of philosophical texts complied by Antonius Andreas and based on the work of Duns Scotus. Antonius Andreas, or Antonio Andrés, was born around 1280 and died around 1320; he was a Spanish Franciscan theologian, and a pupil of Duns Scotus. Duns Scotus, or John Duns, was an important philosopher-theologian, originally from Scotland. The last section seems to be a later addition.The...
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This manuscript contains the ordinances of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a Roman Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good in 1430. The Order still exists in Spain and Austria. This is a late medieval copy in French of the document that determined the practices and rules of this royal Order.ContentsTable of contents I: the title on f. 1r reads: Sensuit la table de ce present...
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This manuscript contains the book L’Arbre des Batailles by Honoré Bonet (c. 1340 – c. 1410), a Benedictine and prior of Salon near Embrun. He studied at the University of Avignon and wrote about philosophy, law, politics, and Heraldry. L’Arbre des Batailles is one of his most important works. It was written around 1382-87 in the form of a scholastic dialogue and deals with war and the laws of war. The work is composed of four...
