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 88 Collections and/or Records:
Contents
This manuscript contains a Flemish psalter in Latin, written in the 13th century in Flanders. The Kalendar at the beginning is missing January and December, and is in general much mutilated. There are many illuminations, especially in the first sections, including 3 folios with illuminations after the Kalendar. An Invitatory, Venite exultemus, was later inserted by another hand on f. 9r. The Service of the Dead ends abruptly on f. 157v before some folios that...
Dates:
early 13th century
Contents
Manuscript of Robert Grosseteste's Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs produced in Italy in the 15th century. Robert Grosseteste was bishop of Lincoln 1235-1253. He is better known for his scientific treatises in Latin and French. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs is a translation into Latin from the original apocryphal Greek text. According to Matthew Paris (Hist. Maj.,sub. anno 1242,...
Dates:
15th century
Contents
A 15th century autograph manuscript (the author of the work is also the scribe of the manuscript) from the Carthusian Charterhouse at Erfurt. The author and scribe is Johannes de Indagine, who was a Carthusian monk and prior connected to Erfurt Charterhouse and other Carthusian houses in Germany in the fifteenth century. The manuscript includes a collection of commentaries on parts of the bible, including Paul's letters, the Song of Songs, and other parts of the old and new testaments....
Dates:
1460s
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...
Dates:
1 September 1472
Contents
Contains two texts, written in different hands.ff. 1r-166r: 'De Perseverantia' by Maffeo Vegio [De Perseverantia Religionis]ff. 167r-190v: 'Ad Stagirium a Daemonio Vexatum' by John ChrysostomThe texts are described separately, under MS 84/ff. 1r-166r and MS 84/ff. 167r-190v. Writing The Vegius is written in a clear sloping italic hand which grows smaller at the end. The...
Dates:
15th century
Contents
Contains five different texts, all five in the same hand.ff. 1r-13v: ‘Meditationes’ [incomplete] by Pseudo-Augustine of Hippoff. 14r-107r: ‘Meditationes’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 107r-117v: ‘Speculum Peccatorum’ff. 118r-129r: Meditationsf. 129r: ‘Enarrationes in Psalmos’ [incomplete] by Augustine of HippoThe texts are described separately, under MS 90/ff. 1r-13v; MS 90/ff. 14r-107r; MS 90/ff. 107r-117v; MS...
Dates:
15th century
Contents
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 [?] ...
Dates:
13th century
Contents
Contains four different texts, in two different hands.ff. 1r-53v: ‘Hexameron’ by Basil of Caesareaff. 53v-97v: ‘De Conditione Hominis’ by Gregory of Nyssaff. 98r-116r: ‘De Anima’ by Cassiodorusff. 116v-119v: Sermon on the Sacrament of the AltarThe texts are described separately, under MS 100/ff.1r-53v; MS 100/ff.53v-97v; MS 100/ff. 98r-116r; MS 100/ff. 116v-119v. Writing The first...
Dates:
12th century
Contents
Contains fourteen texts mainly by Anselm of Canterbury, in several different hands.ff. 1r-39r: ‘Cur Deus Homo’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 39r-55r: ‘De Conceptu Virginali’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 55r-89v: ‘Monologion’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 89r-101r: ‘De Fide Trinitatis’ by Anselm of Canterburyff. 101r-104v: ‘Meditatio Nostre Redemptionis’ by Anselm of Canterbury [Meditatio de Humana Redemptione]ff. 104v-107v:...
Dates:
12th century
Contents
Contains two texts, in several different hands.ff. 1r-12v: ‘De Operibus Trium Dierum’ by Hugh of Saint Victor, also known as De Tribus Diebusff. 12v-35v: Collection of sermons, aphorisms, quotations, and sentences by several different authors including Hugh of Saint Victor, Martin of Braga, and HildebertThe texts are described separately, under MS 105/ff.1-12 and MS 105/ff. 12v-36v. ...
Dates:
11th-12th century
