Chalmers, George, 1742-1825 (Scottish antiquarian and political writer)

Scope and Contents From the Fonds:

After the death of David Laing, his private library was sold in an auction occupying thirty-one days. His collection of charters and other papers is of national importance and the most distinguished of its kind in any Scottish university. It is an essential source for the 18th century, and a much used one for all periods of Scottish history from the earliest times. The Laing Collection falls into five sections, designated as La.I., La.II., La.III., La.IV., and La.V.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds:

After the death of David Laing, his private library was sold in an auction occupying thirty-one days. His collection of charters and other papers is of national importance and the most distinguished of its kind in any Scottish university. It is an essential source for the 18th century, and a much used one for all periods of Scottish history from the earliest times. The Laing Collection falls into five sections, designated as La.I., La.II., La.III., La.IV., and La.V.

Scope and Contents At E87.71 there is a letter of Chalmers written at the 'Office for Trade, Whitehall' on 21 July 1788, to the sister of 'the late Mr. Richardson of Kensington' (William Richardson). The letter refers to his objective of doing 'justice to the memory of' Richardson, and goes on to mention the 'essay on the causes of the decline of Foreign trade, which I think was written by Mr. Richardson'. In the letter he says that the essay 'is very generally attributed to Sir Matthew Decker'. He hopes...