550-year-old book among £8m acquisitions for National Library of Scotland's collection

In its annual review, NLS said it had spent £8,008,608 on acquisitions in the 12 months to the end of March, the vast majority of which related to a private treaty sale, details of which have not yet been made public. Just under £1m of money spent on new works for the national collection came from public funding.

The acquisitions included John Duns Scotus's Quaestiones in primum librum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi, as well as an archive of a prominent Scottish suffragette which documents her close relationship with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst and letters written by explorer David Livingstone.

The library said a total of 133,555 more items had been acquired for its national collections over the period.

First published in 1472 by one of Italy's first printing houses, Quaestiones in primum librum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi, which was bought through financial support from the Library’s Acqusitions Circle, represents the first known instance of a printed work featuring a Scottish author.

The work of John Duns Scotus, a Scottish Catholic priest, Fanciscan friar and university professor, had a major influence on the development of Christian thought during the latter medieval period and is generally considered to be among the most important philosophical and theological voices of the time.

Meanwhile, the library also acquired a copy of Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches, the first published history of Scottish football by Partick journalist David Drummond Bone, published in Glasgow by John Menzies & Co in 1890.

The book includes 11 articles on various aspects of the game, including “Famous Association players – past and present”, “Pioneers of Association football in Scotland”, “How clubs were started long ago” and “The patrons, spectators and popular players”.

Another acquisition made over the period was one of the last surviving calligraphy manuscripts of renowned Scottish miniaturist Esther Inglis remaining in private hands. The manuscript is one she produced in colour between 1605 and 1607 and displays a variety of handwriting styles, including text written in a minute script less than one millimetre high.

Meanwhile, the archive of Mary Phillips, one of the most prominent Scottish women involved in the militant suffrage campaign, has been acquired for NLS. Her letters and speeches document her role as an organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union across Scotland and England, as well as her relationship with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst.

A selection of letters and photographs relating to explorer David Livingston which were acquired for the national collections were previously part of a private collection and had never before been accessible to the public.

The library also received a donation of almost 200 bus maps and transport-related documents from John Davies, author of The Rise and Demise of the Bus Map.

A statement in the annual review said: “These kinds of publications are tricky to collect, so this was a great opportunity to fill gaps. Transport timetables and maps of routes are rich sources of information and help us to understand how local services have changed over time. They can also be useful for things such as creative writing, where the details of journeys long forgotten can be brought back to life.”

Another work acquired by NLS is a second edition of The day-book of John Stuart Blackie, a collection of the classical scholar’s thoughts on life, character and literature, which has a cover illustrated by Dorothy Carleton Smyth.

Blackie, who died in 1895 aged 86, was professor of humanity at the University of Aberdeen from 1839 to 1852, then as Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh from 1852 until 1882. Smyth, meanwhile, was an artist, costumiere, book-binder and doyenne of the Glasgow School of Art and the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland and is regarded as a key figure of the Golden Age of Illustration.

Scotch whisky company Gordon & MacPhail, together with Pote Narittakurn Lee, owner of Gordon & MacPhail's distribution partner in Thailand, collaborated to donate a rare 21st-century edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America to the national collections.

The Annual Review showed the library received £8.4m in donations and legacies over the period, while £20.4m came from state aid - down from £22.2m in the previous 12 months. The amount spent by the library on building and digital infrastructure investment almost doubled to £2.9m, compared to the £1.6m spent on buildings maintenance the previous year.

NLS said the increase in the amount spent on acquisitions related to a one-off private treaty sale.

A spokesperson said: “Our collections purchase fund hasn’t increased – that amount is to take into account a private treaty sale, funded by a foundation who we have a longstanding relationship with.”

Writing in the annual review, Scotland’s chief librarian Amina Shah reflected on the 100th centenary of the library, which was celebrated in 2025.

She said: “As we reflected on what it means for Scotland to have founded and built a National Library over the past 100 years, it became clear that a National Library does not stand alone. It is a connected part of an interwoven tapestry, and those connections are a critical part of what sustains it. It seemed obvious that we should take the chance to celebrate all things library – all parts of the connected community that we are part of in Scotland.”