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.
Contents
Contains six medical texts, and recipes inserted at a later date. The whole volume is written by the hand of Robert of Sherburn, with the exception of the recipes, written by Francis Cox.ff. 1v-2v: A Tabula to the volume, in the hand of Robert of Sherburn, and an ilustration of a physician and patient (described under 'Scope and Contents-Illumination').Ff. 3r-37r, ff. 41r-44r: 'Expositio cum questionibus super textu Rasis in...
Contents
Contains six texts, possibly written by two hands. The first four texts belong to a group of Latin textbooks largely used in schools during the Middle Ages, collectively known as Auctores octo morales ('Eight moral authors'). Catherine Borland erroneously attributes the second, third and fourth text (Liber Faceti docens mores hominum, Liber parabolarum and Liber...
Scope and Contents
This manuscript is composed of three sections bound together out of order, in different hands. The different texts are listed below and detailed separately.ff. 1r-2v; 4r-v; 26r-v: Fragments of a commentary on a variety of court cases in French.ff. 3r-v; 5r-24v: A text in Latin headed Flores Dictaminis Petri de Vineis et primo de querimonia Frederici Rubrica ( Flores...
Scope and Contents
MS 183, the Royal Letter Book, is an English late medieval manuscript containing contemporary copies of 374 letters, most of which belong to the reigns of Edward III (1327-1377) and Richard II (1377-1397). The manuscript further contains a few copies of letters from the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413) and the copy of a single letter from the reign of Henry V (1413-1422), as well as several letters between other correspondents. The overall date range of the...
Dates:
late 14th-early 15th century; c 1335-c 1417 (dates of the original letters)
Contents
The Brut Chronicle (also known as the Prose Chronicle) is a collection of medieval histories of England. It was originally an Anglo-Norman text, but was translated into Latin and also Middle English during the medieval period. The Brut presents a mythical history of England, describing for instance the settlement of England by a son of Aeneas from Troy. The original Anglo-Norman version of the chronicle ends in 1272, but there...
Contents
MS 185 is an extended version of the Brut Chronicle. The original was an Anglo-Norman chronicle that ended its account in 1272. This Anglo-Norman version was translated into Latin and Middle English during the middle ages, and many manuscripts continued the account beyond 1272. MS 185 is one such extended version, to 1419.The text begins on f. 1r with Here begynneth a bok which is called Brute, the cronyculis of...
Contents
This is a fragment (12 folios) of a summary of the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of jurisprudence of Catholic canon law. It was compiled by Spanish Dominican friar Raymond of Penyafort, under the orders of pope Gregory IX. Contains 1 folio of Book I and 11 of Book III (Title xxxiv, De voti redemptione, to Title xli, De celebratione missarum). ...
Contents
These fragments consist of four leaves of the famous Auchinleck Manuscript, held by the National Library of Scotland. This manuscript was written in the 1330s in London and contains a collection on Middle English works believed to provide unique insight into the 14th century, not least because some of the Middle English texts within it do not appear elsewhere. These fragments were separated from the main manuscript, and seem to have been used for covers for books.Two of the...
