With apologies for cross-posting

Over recent weeks, the Blairs Library, made up of more than 27,000 books and pamphlets dating back to the 15^th century, several of which are unique copies, has been moved from the National Library of Scotland to the Sir Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen.

The collection, including 17 incunables and over a thousand 16^th century books, as well as manuscripts, is available to scholars, students and interested members of the public to search on the Library’s catalogue and to consult in the Special Collections Centre’s Reading Room.

The library collection from St Mary’s College, Blairs (Blairs College) near Maryculter in Aberdeenshire, had been on loan to the National Library of Scotland since 1974. Many of the books and manuscripts in the Collection are closely associated with famous or distinguished individuals, some of whom played a key role in Scotland’s history. These include  volumes belonging to Cardinal Beaton, the last Scottish Cardinal prior to the Reformation, and Archbishop Scheves of St Andrews; 17^th century books associated with the exiled Stuart Court in France; and one example of very early English printing which belonged to the great Scottish historian Thomas Innes. 

Blairs was, from 1829 to 1986, a junior seminary for boys and young men studying for the Catholic priesthood. However, much of the material in its collections dates from the period following the Reformation, when many Scottish Catholics were exiled abroad. Its Library includes the collections of seminaries where Scottish exiles were trained for the priesthood: the Scots Colleges in Douai (1576-1793) and Paris (1602-1793); the Pontifical Scots College in Rome (founded 1600), and the Scots Benedictine Abbey of St. James in Regensburg, Bavaria.

To explore the library further, please follow this link www.abdn.ac.uk/library/cld/

 

Siobhán

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Siobhán Convery

Head of Special Collections, Library, Special Collections & Museums

The Sir Duncan Rice Library, University of Aberdeen, Bedford Road, Aberdeen AB24 3AA

t: +44 (0)1224 272929 

e: s.convery@abdn.ac.uk  

w: www.abdn.ac.uk/library/about/special/

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