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Laing, David, 1793-1878 (antiquarian, bookseller, and librarian of the Signet Library)

 Person

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 96 Collections and/or Records:

MS 192: La Guerra Punica, late 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 192
Scope and Contents La Guerra Punica is a retelling of the first Punic War (264-241 BC) between Romans and Carthaginians. The author is Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370 - 1444), Italian humanist and historian, and one of the most prominent figures of the early Renaissance. He claims to have followed the account of ancient Latin and Greek authors; his story is particularly indebted to the Histories of the Greek historian Polybius....
Dates: late 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 193: Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum by Justin, late 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 193
Contents MS 193 is a text of the only known work by Roman historian Justin (Marcus Junianus Justinus Frontinus). Little else is known about this author, but he most likely lived in the second or third century AD. Justin's history is an epitome, or abridgement of the earlier history of the kings of Macedonia, Liber Historiarum Philippicarum by first-century Roman historian, Trogus, now lost. Justin summarises passages of Trogus' text,...
Dates: late 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts
f. 1r
f. 1r

MS 194: Composite manuscript containing the Historia destructionis Troiae and a fragment of letter, 14th or 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 194
Contents

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.

Dates: 14th or 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 197: Composite manuscript containing six comedies by Terence, late 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 197
Contents MS 197 contains all six of the comedies by Roman playwright Terence.Andrea: ff. 1r-21v. Starts with the line [N]atus in excelsis tectis cartaginis alteEunuchus: ff. 22r-45v. Starts with the line [T]errentii affri incipit eunucus acta ludis megallensibusHeauton Timorumenos: ff. 45v-68r. The play starts with the line ...
Dates: late 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 199: Satires by Juvenal, late 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 199
Contents Juvenal was an early second-century AD Roman poet. Although little else is known about his life, he is credited with having written sixteen satires. When first published, the satires were divided into five books, and in them Juvenal criticised the beliefs and morals of his contemporaries. Juvenal addresses many of the concerns in second-century Rome in his poems, including the tensions between non-Roman social climbers and Roman citizens, the preservation of existing social class, and the...
Dates: late 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 200: Scholia by pseudo-Acro, 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 200
Contents MS 200 contains a set of commentaries on works by the first-century BC Roman poet, Horace. This set of commentaries is known as the Scholia and it is attributed to pseudo-Acro. Acro, or Helenius Acron was a third-century AD Roman commentator who wrote on the works of Terence and Horace. The commentary ("Scholia") found in MS 200 was not attributed to Acro before the fifteenth century, so his authorship is...
Dates: 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 203: Commento al 'Trionfo della Fama' di Petrarca by Jacopo Bracciolini, 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 203
Contents The manuscript contains the text of a commentary to Petrarch's Triumph of Fame written by Jacopo Bracciolini and published for the first time in 1475. The Triumphs (Trionfi in Italian) are a series of allegorical poems written in vernacular Italian by the poet Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374). They take their title from the Roman tradition of the triumph, the spectacular procession in which the...
Dates: 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 204: Liber Facetiarum by Poggio Bracciolini, 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 204
Contents This 15th-century Italian manuscript contains Poggio Bracciolini’s Liber Facetiarum or Facetiae. Poggio Bracciolini of Florence was a scholar and early humanist who was born in 1380 and died in 1459. His Liber Facetiarum is a collection of humorous or indecent tales.In this manuscript, this text is titled Poggii Florentini ac apostolici secretarii oratoris...
Dates: 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts
f. 87v
f. 87v

MS 208: Composite manuscript containing fifteen legal texts including the Regiam Majestatem, late 15th century

 Item
Identifier: MS 208
Contents This Scottish manuscript contains a collection of texts about Scottish law. The first part of this manuscript (ff. 1-129) appears to have been written around the beginning of the last quarter of the 15th century; the rest (ff. 130-335) seems to have been written in 1496 (see Custodial History). The contents are as follows:ff. 1r-87r: Reportium (Index) to the volumeff. 89r-117v: Miscellaneous collection of lawsff. 118r-124v:...
Dates: late 15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

MS 211: fragments, 9th-15th century

 File
Identifier: MS 211
Scope and Contents

MS 211 is a collection of approx. 55 manuscript fragments, mainly rescued from bindings in which they were used as waste. They were collected by Laing over the course of many years. There are 35 main fragments, and 17 more in MS 211/XXXVI (these were deemed too small to be catalogued by Catherine Borland).


Each of them is described separately. See individual catalogue entries for more details.

Dates: 9th-15th century
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Western Medieval Manuscripts

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