A Catalogue of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh.

First edition, 3 vols., folio (330 x 215 mm), [6], 649, [1]; [4], 598; [4], 468pp., printed in double-column, foxing to endpapers and first and last few leaves, otherwise generally very clear, marbled endpapers, cont. calf, edges rubbed, both upper and lower boards with large ornate strap-work centrepiece in blind, rebacked, with contrasting leather labels lettered in gilt. The National Library of Scotland, though officially inaugurated only in 1925, had its origins in the much older institution, the Library of the Advocates which was established in a rented house in the corner of the Parliament Close of Edinburgh in 1682. "The 1742 catalogue was admirably compiled by Thomas Ruddiman, printer and scholar, who was one of a number of notable librarians during the eighteenth century. Another was David Hume the philosopher, who succeeded Ruddiman in 1752 and held office till 1757. As time went on the Library increasingly assumed a national character, and became a place of deposit for material relating to the history and literature of Scotland."Kelly. Provenance: Booksellers ticket of Manners & Miller, Edinburgh (1790s fl.); From the library of Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861) with her bookplate, front fly-leaf 'bought of Manners & Miller, Edinburgh, 1819'; Armorial bookplate of Thomas Falconer (1805-1882); Cardiff Free Library. Kelly, Early Public Libraries, 1966. pp. 179-183.…