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 83 Collections and/or Records:
MS 191: Works by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), late 15th century
MS 193: Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum by Justin, late 15th century
MS 194: Composite manuscript containing the Historia destructionis Troiae and a fragment of letter, 14th or 15th century
MS 194 contains two texts, in the same hand.
ff. 1r-136r: 'Historia destructionis Troiae' by Guido delle Colonne
f. 136r-v: 'Epistola ad Raymundus de curia rei familiaris' by Pseudo-Bernard of Clairvaux
These texts will be described separately, under MS 194/ff. 1-136; and MS 194/ff. 136r-v.
Writing
A fair hand, with good filigree initials in red, blue, and purple.
MS 197: Composite manuscript containing six comedies by Terence, late 15th century
MS 199: Satires by Juvenal, late 15th century
MS 200: Scholia by pseudo-Acro, 15th century
MS 204: Liber Facetiarum by Poggio Bracciolini, 15th century
MS 208: Composite manuscript containing fifteen legal texts including the Regiam Majestatem, late 15th century
MS 212: Kalendar, 16th century
This manuscript contains a calendar of saints, which is a calendar of the liturgical or Christian year (also known as Kalendar) that assigns a feast day for on or more saints in most of the days of the year. This particular calendar seems to follow the English tradition, but it belonged to Dutch and French owners. Most pages contain notes in Middle French written on the lower margin.