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ASTORGA AND THORKELIN COLLECTIONS.

9

again repeated-almost in the old words--"above 30,000 volumes, including a complete collection of Jurisprudence"-by Gough, in his additions to Camden's Britannia.1

BOOK III.

Chapter XIX.
The Law
Libraries at

Edinburgh.

Thorkelin

Collections.

Of the later accessions the most conspicuous are the Astorga and Libraries of the Marquis of Astorga and of Professor Thorkelin, both acquired by purchase about thirty years ago. The former consists chiefly of Spanish literature, contains many choice books, extends to about 3400 volumes, and was purchased for £3000. Thorkelin's collection contains about 1200 volumes, chiefly relating to the history and literature of the Northern nations. The extensive series of Tracts and Dissertations, known as the "Dietrich Collection," comprises a wide range of subjects, and includes many works by Luther, Melancthon, and other leaders of the Reformation, most of them being original editions. Sir William Hamilton, a most zealous Curator, acquired this collection for the Library at the trivial outlay of eighty pounds. He estimated its contents as extending to 100,000 distinct pieces. But by some strange oversight, the collection was permitted for several years to lie in a "damp cellar." Under the present energetic Librarian, Mr. Halkett, it has been "taken out, aired, and dried," and proves, we are told, "to be one of very considerable value." There is no present need to fear any recurrence of similar neglect. That it should have occurred at all seems the more strange, inasmuch as the funds of the Library were then ample for its

1 Britannia, etc., iv, 51 (Edition of 1806).

2 Reports by the Curators of the Advocates Library (1851) 10; (1852) 3.

BOOK III.

Chapter XIX.

The Law Libraries at Edinburgh.

Library in 1849.

the Copyright

Tax.

wants. "At one time," said, in 1849, the late Solicitor General of Scotland, Mr. Maitland, "the contributions of the Bar amounted to upwards of £3000 annually. Of late years, they have fallen off, and so we have been able to do very little in purchasing foreign books."

Dr. Irving, the late Librarian, returned the number of printed volumes in 1849, as 148,000, but gave no information as to the increment from the Copyright-Tax. "No return," he says, "can be made of the works received Extent of the by the Advocates Library, no account having been kept." The Annual Reports of the Curators, like those of Dr. Irving's successor in the Librarianship, are silent altogether, both as to the growth of the Library, and as to the use made of it. If, however, I may assume (1.) Increment under that the number of volumes yearly added to the Library from this source must nearly correspond with the average number received by other Libraries under the like privilege; and (2.) that the books received are preserved, it will follow that the aggregate number of volumes must now (1858) have risen to at least 174,000. Evidence of the In the evidence which was given by Mr. Maitland, of Scotland on before the Public Libraries Committee of 1849, considerable stress was laid on the impropriety and ill consequences of turning the books acquired under the Copyright Act, "to the ordinary purposes of a circulating Library." "As they come from Stationers' Hall," said the Solicitor General, "they are boarded, and immediately placed upon the public tables of the Library. In this way not only books of ephemeral literature, but works of the highest value published in this country are immediately converted into common circulating

Solicitor General

management of

the Library.

THE BOOKS ACCRUING BY COPYRIGHT-TAX.

11

purposes, among readers extending to 400 and 500. I do not think that was the original intention, and I think it is an unfair use, of the grant. Besides, it is extremely destructive to the books. .... They do not remain a public deposit, but are, to a great extent, so destroyed by the mode in which they are used as to be unfit to be deposited in a great Public Library. I think the only satisfactory and practical reform in the Advocates Library would be to put an end to that circulation of the books." With certain exceptions, for literary purposes, Mr. Maitland would abolish the lending system, and "would make great exertions to give every accommodation [to readers within the Library,] such as is given in the "British Museum;" as being a better system of preserving the character of a National Library, and such, I think," he adds, "ought to be the character of the Advocates Library."1

BOOK II.

Chapter XIX.
The Law
Libraries at
Edinburgh.

lections.

The Manuscripts number about 2000 volumes. Be- The MS. colsides the prominent collections of Balfour, Sibbald, and Wodrow, they include a small but highly valuable series of historical letters-many of them from royal hands,--and other State Papers, presented by the Earl of Balcarras; the various papers of Lord Fountainhall, of James Anderson, and of Murray of Stanhope; the Perth collections of the Rev. James Scott; the Account-books and Correspondence of the Company of Merchants which founded the settlement of Darien;-full of interest, as throwing strong light on a remark

1 Minutes of Evidence before Select Committee on Public Libraries (1849), 94, 95.

BOOK III.

Chapter XIX.

The Law

Libraries at
Edinburgh.

The rarer Printed Books.

Account of the

Catalogues.

able chapter of Scottish History; and the curious gatherings of ancient Scottish and English poetry, known as the Bannatyne and Auchinlech MSS.

Among the classical MSS. are a fine Horace of the thirteenth century; a Valerius Maximus of the fourteenth; a Terence of the fifteenth; and the famous copy of Martial's Epigrams, which is by some authorities ascribed to the ninth century, and is, beyond all question, one of the most ancient known. There are also some valuable Biblical MSS.; an extensive series of Icelandic books, purchased of Professor Finn Magnuson in 1825; and, finally, some choice Persian and Sanscrit MSS., which the Library owes to the liberality of Mr. Erskine and Mr. Elphinstone.

The rarities of the Printed Book Department include the first productions of the Scottish press, (a volume of poetical tracts, printed in 1508, and the better known Breviarium Aberdonense, published under the sanction of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, in 1509 and 1510;) and a copy of the Mazarine Bible. But the strength of this printed Library lies in modern books, such especially as are historical or juridical. Books on the physical sciences, and those in various departments of recent foreign literature are present but in scanty proportions.

There are printed Catalogues of the books up to the year 1807, in three volumes (1742, 1776, and 1807,) and a later one of the law-books exclusively (printed in 1831), with a supplement. There are also the following Catalogues wholly or partially in manuscript:

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(1.) A Catalogue of the Historical books, based on the printed titles of 1742, 1776, and 1807, with the additional titles intercalated; (2.) A Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Classics, added to the Library since 1807; (3.) A Miscellaneous Catalogue, containing books in all the classes not previously named, from 1807 to about 1830, with those not otherwise catalogued of subsequent date; (4.) Separate Catalogues of books in Theology, Medicine, and Prose Fiction, from 1830 or 1832 to a recent date; (5.) A classed Catalogue of the Astorga Library;1 (6) A Catalogue of Pamphlets in two volumes.

A new alphabetical Catalogue-a specimen proof-sheet of which lies before me--is now in the press. It appears to be carefully compiled, has useful notes, indicating great bibliographical acquirement; but is disfigured by that strange, though not singular, absurdity,the mingling of the names of authors, in one and the same alphabet with words indicative sometimes of the subjects, and sometimes of the mere titles of anonymous books. What possible profit a reader can derive from the sequence of "Chimney" to "Chalmers (David)," it is hard to conjecture. The typography of the "Specimen" is, it must be added, excellent.

The Library of the WRITERS TO THE SIGNET is a choice collection nobly lodged. Dr. Dibdin is not famous for judicious discrimination in his use of epithets, but in this case there is really nothing exaggerated in his

1 Mr. Halkett remarks of this Catalogue (Report of 1851, p. 7):-"The books are arranged in six classes, each of which is catalogued separately.” A classed Catalogue, in which the classes are not catalogued separately would surely be a literary curiosity?

BOOK III.

Chapter XIX.
The Law
Libraries at

Edinburgh.

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