Rare Books

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.

• Special and Named Printed Collections database

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
• Theatre posters and playbills
• Newspapers
• Chapbooks
• Broadsides.

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