Laing, David, 1793-1878 (antiquarian, bookseller, and librarian of the Signet Library)
Biography
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.
Found in 178 Collections and/or Records:
Composite manuscript including two texts, early 14th century; early 15th century
Composite manuscript including two texts, 14th century
Contains two texts, in two different hands.
ff. 1-11v: 'De sphaera mundi' by Johannes de Sacrobosco
ff. 12r-16: 'De Substantia orbis' [incomplete] by Averroes
Writing
Fairly written by two hands, with diagrams, but initials have not been inserted.
Composite manuscript including two texts, 15th century
Composite manuscript including two texts, early 14th century
Composite manuscript including two texts, 11th-12th century
Composite manuscript including two texts, 14th century
Contains two texts, both in the same hand.
ff. 1r-64v: ‘De Trinitate’ by Richard of Saint Victor
ff. 65r-96v: ‘The Shepherd of Hermas’ [incomplete]
The texts are described separately, under MS 109/ff. 1r-64v and MS 109/ff. 65r-96v.
Writing
The hand is good and very characteristically Dutch, as is also the penwork ornament of the initials. The foliation and catchwords are contemporary.
Composite manuscript including two texts, 15th century
Constituta totius Ordinis canonicorum regularium Ordinis S. Augustini by Pope Benedict XII, early 14th century
