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Rare Books

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Illuminated Gutenberg Bible page
A page from our
copy of the
Gutenberg Bible.

At the heart of our rare books collections is Scottish material:

  • Early books written by Scots
  • Books about Scottish topics
  • Books written in Scottish Gaelic or Lowland Scots
  • Early books printed or published in Scotland.

We also have rich special collections. The subjects they cover range from witchcraft to the French Revolution, from beekeeping to Esperanto, and from the Reformation to cookbooks.

We provide access to about one million books. Many of these are original printed volumes dating from 1455 to the present day.

  • Rare Books important acquisitions directory

In addition we have microfilms and digital images of originals kept in other libraries. Our collections also include other material:

  • Photographs
  • Posters and playbills
  • Newspapers
  • Chapbooks
  • Broadsides.

Records for most of these items can be found in Library Search. You can consult the books in the reading rooms in the Library's building on George IV Bridge.

 

In this section

  • Contact us
  • Rare Books collections information and subjects
  • Finding aids
  • Rare books for beginners
  • Staff responsibilities
  • Frequently asked questions

 

Library collections overview

See also

  • Special and Named Printed Collections directory
  • Online Aldis
  • Scottish Book Trade Index
  • Rare Books in Scotland forum
  • Library blog
Crocodile and chameleon

Encyclopaedia Britannica

The 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' is one of the landmark Scottish works in the rare books collections. The first 10 editions are now online

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Rare books cataloguing

Download the National Library of Scotland's Rare books cataloguing manual (PDF) (3 MB; 194 pages).

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