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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This 15th century manuscript is a copy of an astronomical text known as the Theorica Planetarum, which was incredibly popular in the medieval period, and survives in over 200 manuscript copies. There has been much debate on the authorship of this text, and it has been attributed to Robert Grosseteste, and also Gerard of Cremona. However, it seems most likely that this text, of which MS 128 is a copy, is the work of an anonymous teacher of astronomy from about...
Scope and Contents
The manuscript contains the complete text of the Vulgate. The order of books of the Old Testament is unusual: chapter 15 of Leviticus is found at the end of the book of Esther with an explanatory
rubric; Lamentations and Baruch precede Jeremiah instead of coming after it; the Letter of Jeremiah,...
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 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.Kalendar with Astronomical Tables: the months of the Kalendar start on f. 1r and always appear on the recto, the tables start on f. 1v and always appear on the verso.Additions to the Kalendar are all by one 15th century hand and show a connection with Yorkshire in this period. They are: 8 April Matrimonium factum fuit inter Johannem filium Briani...
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...
Scope and Contents
Book of Hours in German from the 15th century.Kalendar: starts on f. 2r. Contains commemorations of Saints and Martyr, and other festivities (the most important are written in red). Its content points to the area of Cologne.30 January: Aldegunt iunffer (Aldegunda Virgin, hermitess and Benedectine abbess, from Hainaut); 1 March: Swicbertus, Bp. (Swithbert Bishop, founded a...
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The manuscript is a Breviary dating from c 1500. Breviaries contain the official set of prayers that mark days in the Catholic calendar. This particular manuscript is Flemish in style and illumination and the Kalendar and Litany are also Flemish and Augustinian. It seems to be connected to an Augustinian foundation in the Netherlands, almost certainly to a church of Saint Paul, at Zonia or Zon.The Kalendar starts on f.2r.In the Kalendar, names...
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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...
