Printing & publishing

Advocates Library catalogues

Volumes spanning over 200 years detailing mostly printed items, with some manuscripts, held by the Advocates Library

Bibliotheca Lindesiana catalogues

Catalogues printed between 1877 and 1913 recording the special collections of the family library of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres

Early Gaelic book collections

Several hundred books in Gaelic and other Celtic languages, plus works about the Gaels, their languages, literature, culture and history

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Delve into the first 10 editions of 'Encyclopaedia Britannica', published from 1771 to 1903.

First Scottish books

See online, page by page, 'The Chepman and Myllar Prints' — nine of the earliest books printed in Scotland, in or around 1508

Gospel of St Matthew adapted for the blind

A 19th-century edition of a book of the Bible with the text embossed for blind people to feel

Ministry of Food

A collection of recipes, books and leaflets from the First and Second World Wars, designed to help people adapt to wartime rationing.

Morall fabillis of Esope the Phyrgia

'Aesop's Fables' put into Scots by 15th-century poet Robert Henryson, who lived in Dunfermline. This edition printed in 1571 in Edinburgh

Rise of literacy

Books and pamphlets on education and the founding of libraries, printed between 1460 and 1900

Scotland's News

A small sample of newspapers from across Scotland, printed during the 18th to 20th centuries

Shakespeare quartos

There are 17 of William Shakespeare's plays in these 31 books, printed in quarto format between 1600 and 1639

Special collections of printed music

Volumes from two archives featuring 18th and 19th century Scottish printed music, and from one archive of the works of Verdi

The Aberdeen Breviary

See the Latin church service book that was the reason printing was introduced to Scotland. Printed in Edinburgh in 1510

The Auchinleck Manuscript

Middle English language and literature as Chaucer would have known it, contained in this rare document, with a full transcription

The Bartholomew Archive

Read about the remarkable record of mapmaking and printing by the world-famous Bartholomew firm in Edinburgh from 1820 to 2002

The Blaeu Atlas

The first Atlas of Scotland, printed in 1654, containing 49 engraved maps, and 154 pages of descriptive text translated from Latin

The Gutenberg Bible

Read our rare copy of the first book in Europe to be printed with moveable type. Johannes Gutenberg printed it in Germany around 1455

The spread of Scottish printing

Trace the spread of printing across Scotland from 1508 to 1900. Read an early item produced in 73 of the first printing towns