University of Edinburgh Library -- Legacy shelfmark sequence: Da-Dp
Subject
Subject Source: Local sources
Scope Note: This shelfmark (or press mark) sequence originated within the Strong Room Library in 'Old College', likely beginning around 1909 (the first Strong Room having been constructed 1905-1909). Each two-letter prefix referred to a block of shelving, which roughly mapped to a category or grouping of items. The first number then referred to the shelf and the final number to the item itself. As collections expanded and were moved, this precise correlation broke down but most of the items retained their shelfmarks.
Da
University Archives. Originally upper floor, north wall of the Strong Room. This later evolved into a crude classification scheme before being abandoned in favour of regular archival arrangement. Items bearing these legacy shelfmarks can still be identified, particularly early Library records which occupied Da.1 and Da.2.
Db
Originally used for mediaeval manuscripts. In the early 20th century, pre-Reformation manuscripts from across the library were brought together to form the Western Medieval Manuscripts collection, under the shelfmark "MS".
Dc
Manuscripts. Mostly bound. Originally on upper floor, front of the Strong Room. This part of the sequence is largely intact, with these shelfmarks now being retained as identifiers of physical location. The items themselves have all been given regular archival reference codes.
Dd
Printed, including Clement Litill. Originally on upper floor, front, south wall of Strong Room.
De
Printed, including the Drummond of Hawthornden collection (largely printed but with some manuscript enclosures from the latter). Originally on the upper floor, back, west wall of the Strong Room. This part of the sequence is intact.
Df
Printed. Originally on the upper floor, back, east wall of the Strong Room. This part of the sequence is intact.
Dh
Printed, including Lutheran tracts. Originally on the upper floor, back of the Strong Room. This part of the sequence is intact.
Dk
Manuscript. Originally in the centre case of the Strong Room, opposite Dh. This part of the sequence is largely intact, with these shelfmarks now being retained as identifiers of physical location. The items themselves have all been given regular archival reference codes.
Dm
Music. Originally in the centre cases of the Strong Room.
Dn
Bindings. Originally in the centre cases of the Strong Room.
Found in 340 Collections and/or Records:
Composite manuscript containing four comedies by Terence, late 14th century (with 15th century gloss)
Item
Identifier: MS 196
Contents
MS 196 contains four comedies (all incomplete) by the Roman playwright, Terence. His comedies were first performed in the mid-second century BC. They were very popular in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and survive in hundreds of medieval manuscripts. The four plays contained in MS 196 (Andria, Eunuchus, Heauton Timorumenos and Adelphi) are described separately under these titles. ...
Dates:
late 14th century (with 15th century gloss)
Composite manuscript containing four texts, 16th century
Item
Identifier: MS 150
Contents
Contains four texts, all in the same hand. This manuscript was written for the Dominican Convent of Sciennes in Edinburgh.ff. 1r-21r: Gospelsf. 21v: A rubric in Scots, setting out when 'The evangell sall be rede'ff. 22r-23v: a table (ff. 22v-23v left blank) entitled 'Ye Chengyng of Ye Mwne'ff. 24r-52r: 'Constitutiones Sororum Ordinis Predicatorum' (Cconstitutions of the Sisters of the order of the Friar Preachers, or Dominicans)The...
Dates:
16th century
Composite manuscript containing four texts by Pseudo-Ramon Llull, c 1525
Item
Identifier: MS 122
Contents
This manuscript contains texts related to medicine or alchemy, all attributed to Ramon Llull, a Catalan philosopher who lived from around 1235 to around 1315. Many alchemical works were misattributed to Llull in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, including those in this manuscript. The versions of these texts included in this manuscript were written around 1525 and the hand seems to be Italian, but a colophon on f. 128v states that it was written by Franciscus de Galliciis, which...
Dates:
c 1525
Composite manuscript containing four texts (Virgil), c 1449
Item
Identifier: MS 195
Contents
Contains four texts, in the same hand.Ff. 1r-18r: The Bucolics by VirgilFf. 19r-63v: The Georgics by VirgilFf. 65r-267r: The Aeneid by VirgilFf. 267v-280r: Aeneidos Liber XIII (or Supplementum), the...
Dates:
c 1449
Composite manuscript containing nine texts, 15th century
Item
Identifier: MS 147
Contents
This manuscript contains nine main texts in several hands, although the last section itself is made of various notes written by different people. The whole text has been annotated by John of Haghen, Prior of the Carthusians at Erfurt, which could mean this volume was his personal handbook at some point.f. 1r: List of Contents, written by John of Haghen, Prior of the Carthusians at Erfurt.ff. 1v-2v: Tract on the...
Dates:
15th century
Composite manuscript containing seventeen texts, 15th century
Item
Identifier: MS 121
Contents
Contains seventeen texts bound together, written in different hands. The margins are badly cropped, and some leaves are missing.ff. 1r-2: Commentary to 'Mercher ad Fledium. Liber de lapide qui vocatur Rebis'.ff. 2-68v: 'Experimenta' ('Experiments').ff. 68v-72v: Alchemic recipes.ff. 73r-99: 'Lumen luminum minus et perfecti magisteri' by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī (known in the West as 'Rhazes' and 'Rasis', version by Wynandus de Ruffo...
Dates:
15th century
Composite manuscript containing sixteen texts by/attributed to Galen, late 13th century
Item
Identifier: MS 166
Contents
Contains sixteen texts by/attributed to Galen, in two different hands.ff. 1r-15v; 271r-274v:'De morbo et accidente'ff. 15v-48r; 266v-271r: 'De Interioribus'ff. 48r-75v: 'Megategni', 11th-century Latin translation by Constantinus Africanusff. 75v-92r: 'De Creticis Diebus'ff. 92r-114v: 'De Crisibus', 12th-century translation by Gerard of Cremonaff. 115r-125v: 'De elementis secundum Hippocratem', translated by Gerard of...
Dates:
late 13th century
Composite manuscript containing sixteen texts including the Regiam Majestatem, 15th century
Item
Identifier: MS 207
Contents
This 15th-century Scottish manuscript contains a collection of texts about Scottish law, which seem to have been compiled by the same scribe, with some additions in a later hand. The contents are as follows:ff. 1r-5v: Rubrics for the Regiae Majestatemff. 6r-7r: Compositio Carte, exceptiones contra cartam, expositiones quorundam vocabiliorumff. 8r-63v: Regiam...
Dates:
15th century
Composite manuscript containing the Scotichronicon and various genealogical texts, 1510
Item
Identifier: MS 186
Contents
MS 186 is a composite volume, containing the Scotichronicon by Walter Bower and a number of short genealogical texts, all by the same hand.Ff. 1r-332v: Scotichronicon, by Walter BowerFf. 332v-333r: 'Epistola bernardi'Ff. 333v-336r: 'brevis recapitulatio' [A short summary] of Bower's Scotichronicon,...
Dates:
1510
Composite manuscript containing three texts, 13th century
Item
Identifier: MS 165
Contents
Contains three texts, all in the same hand. Although these are three separate texts, the binding of them together, with the two short texts following Avicenna's Canon is a common arrangement.ff. 1r-406r: Canon of Medicine by Avicenna [Arabic: Ibn Sina], in 12th-century Gerard of Cremona's Latin translationff. 407r-411v: synonima Avicenniff. 411v-412r: Expositiones...
Dates:
13th century