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 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...
Scope and Contents
A Gradual (or graduale) is a book which contains the chants sung during the Mass. It includes the music notation together with the words. Like the Breviary, it is divided into distinct parts according to the two main cycles of the liturgical year, which contain respectively all the parts of the liturgy which vary in accordance to a specific observance (proprium de tempore, 'proper of time' and...
Scope and Contents
Book of Hours in Latin from the 16th century, of Italian provenance. The Use is that of Rome. It was probably copied in Bologna and the Kalendar also seems to support this origin (see local saints reported).The scribe has written the Greek word telos ('end') at the end of the Hours of the Virgin (f. 119v), Penitential Psalms (f. 122v) and Office of the...
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...
Contents
The manuscript is a Prayer Book and Book of Hours from the late 15th century that originated in Italy.The Penitential Psalms start on f.1r.The Litany starts on f.12r.The Prayers start on f.22v. These include the Ave Maria, Pater Noster, Credo, and Salve...
Contents
The manuscript is an English Psalter that was created in the 14th century, between 1300 and 1330, possibly in Worcester.There is a Title Page on f.1r. There is some custodial history information, as well as some scribbles and drawings, dating from later than the rest of the manuscript.The Litany of the Virgin starts on f.2r.The Virtutes Psalmorum Psalterii hec sint start on f.3r. This section...
Contents
This manuscript contains a psalter of Roman Use with anthems, written in Latin in the early 16th century, and of Italian origin. The book is of a considerable size and its binding is particularly interesting, as it is a decorated with brass pins, studs, and other different shapes. Some of the hymns at the beginning and at the end are incomplete. It has several vellum page markers for its different sections.ContentsHymns (Roman...
Contents
This book is usually known as Summa Confessionalis, Summula de Confessionis or simply Confessionale. It is a guidebook for confessors in the Catholic doctrine written by Antoninus of Florence (1389–1459), a Dominican friar, archbishop of Florence, and considered Saint in the Catholic Church. There are different versions of the book. It was a compilation of several treatises by Antoninus but it...
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,...
