Gaelic manuscripts handlist

These pages give you a complete list of Gaelic manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland. It is arranged by shelfmark, and you will usually find the newest acquisitions at the very end of the list.

Some manuscript shelfmarks link to a more detailed description of that manuscript. We are still cataloguing our Gaelic manuscripts.

We have divided the list into two sections:

• Advocates Manuscripts ('Adv.MS.' shelfmarks)
  Gaelic manuscripts brought together by the Advocates Library before the foundation of the National Library of Scotland in 1925.  It includes the collections of the Highland Society of Scotland, the Highland Society of London, John Francis Campbell of Islay and William F Skene.
  
  The Advocates manuscripts contain most of our oldest Gaelic manuscripts, such as the Glenmasan Manuscript, 'MS 1467' and the Book of the Dean of Lismore.
• Manuscripts acquired by the National Library of Scotland from 1925 onwards  ('MS.', 'Dep.' and 'Acc.' shelfmarks)
  These manuscripts contain many individual items, but also many larger archives of institutions, societies, scholars, writers and collectors.

Advocates Manuscripts (Adv.MS. shelfmarks)

Shelfmarks given in brackets are now obsolete but will often be found cited in older scholarly works. The main sequence of Gaelic manuscripts begins at shelfmark Adv.MS.72.1.1.