The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the

law library A law library is a special library, specialist library used by Legal education, law students, lawyers, judges and their Law clerk, legal assistants, and academics in order to Legal research, research the law or its Legal history, history. Law ...

of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an act of Parliament, the National Library of Scotland Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 73), the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

was created. All the non-legal collections were transferred to the National Library. Today, it alone of the Scottish libraries still holds the privilege of receiving a copy of every law book entered at Stationers' Hall. The library forms part of the complex that includes Parliament House, located on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

History

The library was formally opened in 1689. It was an initiative of George Mackenzie. The present library building was designed by

William Henry Playfair William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...

in 1830, and is a

category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

. Librarian Samuel Halkett began an ambitious catalogue, based on the rules of John Winter Jones for the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

catalogue of 1839, but with extensive biographical information on authors. It was published in six volumes, from 1858 to 1878. Halkett's successor, Thomas Hill Jamieson, had to deal with a fire that damaged some thousands of books on 9 March 1875. By 1923 the library held around 725,000 books and pamphlets.

Keepers

*1684–1693 James NasmithCadell & Matheson, pp. 292–6. (NB in place before official opening.) *1693–1702 James Stevenson *1702–1728 John Spottiswoode of that ilk *1703–1718 (joint keeper) Adam Colt or Coult *1705–1719 (joint keeper) William Forbes *1730–1752 Thomas Ruddiman *1735–1766 (assistant keeper) Walter Goodall *1752–1757

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

*1757–1758

Adam Ferguson Adam Ferguson, (Scottish Gaelic: ''Adhamh MacFhearghais''), also known as Ferguson of Raith (1 July N.S. /20 June O.S. 1723 – 22 February 1816), was a Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment. Ferguson was sympath ...

*1758–1765 William Wallace *1766–1794 Alexander Brown *1794–1818 Alexander Manners *1820–1848

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, especially Nazi Germany. He was found to be a Holocaust denier in a British court ...

*1849–1871 Samuel Halkett *1871–1876 Thomas Hill Jamieson *1877–1906 James Toshach Clark *1906–1925 William Kirk Dickson *1925-1928 James Stevenson LeadbetterSt Clair and Craik p76 *1928-1948 Robert Candlish Henderson *1948-1949 Henry Wallace Guthrie *1949-1956 Thomas Pringle McDonald *1956-1970 Margaret Henderson Kidd *1970-1972 Alexander John Mackenzie Stuart *1972-1977 Charles Kemp Davidson *1977-1987 John Taylor Cameron *1987–1994 Brian Gill *1994-2002 Angus Stewart *2002-2004 Edgar Prais *2004-2008 Stephen Woolman *2008-2021 Mungo Bovey QC *2021 Stephen O'Rourke QC *2022- present Neil Mackenzie KC

References

*Patrick Cadell and Ann Matheson, editors (1989). ''For the Encouragement of Learning: Scotland's National Library 1689–1989''. Edinburgh: HMSO. *John St Clair and Roger Craik (1989). ''The Advocates' Library: 300 Years of a National Institution 1689-1989''. Edinburgh HMSO.

Notes

External links

* {{Culture and leisure facilities in Edinburgh 1682 establishments in Scotland Libraries in Edinburgh Scots law Law libraries in the United Kingdom College of Justice Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed library buildings in Scotland Royal Mile Academic libraries in Scotland Deposit libraries

History

Keepers

See also

References

Notes

External links