Antiquarian Collection of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

The Antiquarian Collection of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is one of the very finest collections of rare books on bookkeeping and accountancy in the world. 

Held at the National Library of Scotland, it presently consists of over 1,000 works ranging in date from 1494 to 1930.

A sample of works in the ICAS Antiquarian Collection

Double-entry
bookkeeping,
1494

Dutch
bookkeeping in
the 17th century

18th-century
continental
merchant

General rules for
transactional
analysis

First bookkeeping
book published
in Scotland

The standard
accounting text,
18th century

Double-entry
bookkeeping,
Germany

Author of the
'Code
Savary'

Challenge to
double-entry
bookkeeping

Origins of ICAS

The origins of ICAS date back to 1854 when one of its founding bodies, the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh, was incorporated by Royal Charter. 

ICAS is the earliest professional body of accountants worldwide.

How the collection started

The foundation of the Antiquarian Collection was due to the efforts of Richard Brown (1856-1918), a past President of ICAS, who began buying in the 1890s and steadily built up the collection until his death. In succeeding years significant additions to the collection have been made by donation and purchase.

ICAS placed the collection on long-term deposit at the National Library in 1983.