David Laing, 1793-1878; William Drummond, 1585-1649

The Clement Little Collection which formed the earliest nucleus of in 1584, contained no manuscripts. The Drummond Collection presented in 1626, by William Drummond (1585-1649), included only one manuscript belonging to the medieval period. The first complete Edinburgh University Library catalogue made in 1636 mentioned the Sciennes Manuscript acquired circa 1593, and five others. During the seventeenth century, the Library frequently received gifts and legacies from University graduates, professors, officials and students, and also from Edinburgh merchants and citizens, and by 1697, the Library catalogue contained twenty-three medieval manuscripts. By 1767 there were thirty-one. The first attempt at a separate catalogue of manuscripts was a scroll list drawn up by David Laing (1793-1878), probably in 1825. This contained only thirty-six manuscripts. The bulk of the material in the modern collection of Western Medieval MSS was acquired after that date, probably through the Reid Bequest after 1846. The Library's Erfurt MSS and other German books contain descriptive notices from sale catalogues from this period. The work entitled A descriptive catalogue of the Western medieval manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library, by Catherine R. Borland (Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, 1916) contains a full list of donors, scribes, and owners of manuscripts in the collection.

From the guide to the Western Medieval Manuscripts Collection, 15th century-16th century, (Edinburgh University Library)