Meet the manuscripts — and what to do with an “Inglis manuscript” which is not by Esther Inglis

This blog post introduces the six manuscripts written by and associated with Esther Inglis which are held at Edinburgh University Library. The cataloguing, conservation, and digitisation of this manuscript group forms an important output of “Esther Inglis 2024”. This post is written by the Project Curator.

Today, sixty-three manuscripts by Esther Inglis are known worldwide. This number includes manuscripts which are currently held in libraries or in private collections. It also includes manuscripts which are recorded in older auction catalogues or described in historical records. The total of sixty-three known Esther Inglis manuscripts is the highest it has ever been, but this number is constantly shifting. In 2012, two manuscripts previously considered Esther Inglis’ work were de-attributed in a new catalogue drawn up by Nicolas Barker. These manuscripts are now thought to be compilations of sixteenth-century calligraphic pieces which were gathered together by later owners. One of these manuscripts is in the National Library of Scotland — MS 2197. The other is MS La.III.522, held by the University of Edinburgh. So where did this original attribution to Esther Inglis come from, and how does it relate to the other five manuscripts in the University which she definitely did write?

The six Inglis-related manuscripts at the University of Edinburgh all came to the Library at the bequest of David Laing (1793-1878). Laing was a Scottish antiquary, a collector of manuscripts and a bibliographer. At his death, Laing left his manuscript collection to the University; the Laing collection is the largest single manuscript collection in the University Library. Laing was an important early collector of Esther Inglis’ manuscripts; in 1865, he published “Notes relating to Mrs Esther (Langlois or) Inglis, the celebrated calligraphist” in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland. Today, this extensive article continues to be cited by modern scholars as a source of bibliographical information not only for Esther Inglis, but also for her father Nicolas Anglois, husband Bartilmo Kello, and father-in-law John Kello. Laing’s article also describes 28 manuscripts by Inglis which he has either seen, heard of, or owns. Five of the six Inglis-related manuscripts now at the University of Edinburgh are included in this list; these are: MS La.III.440, MS La.III.439, MS La.III.75, MS La.III.525, MS La.III.522.

David Laing continued to collect manuscripts by Inglis after publishing his 1865 article; the manuscript now MS La.III.249 includes a note in Laing’s handwriting to say that he acquired it in 1867. The rest of this blog post will introduce this group of six manuscripts, which form the part of the core of the “Esther Inglis 2024” project.

Read on to meet the manuscripts…

La.III.440

This is one of Esther Inglis’ earliest dated manuscripts, produced in 1592. It contains the text of the hundred verses entitled De la grandeur de Dieu et de la cognoissance qu’on peur avoir de luy par ses oeuvres [On the greatness of God, and on the knowledge that one can have of him through his works], originally written by Pierre du Val and published as a printed book in 1553. Forty years after this first publication, Esther Inglis’ copies of these verses are intricate and decorative; she rewrites these hundred verses in twenty different styles of script, which vary dramatically in size and ornamentation. Esther Inglis’ manuscript has an oblong format; this is unusual for its time, but is likely to reference the shape of sixteenth-century handwriting manuals or “writing books”, which were designed to be laid flat on a table. However, Inglis’ manuscript measures just 9 by 12 centimetres, much smaller than any writing-book she might have seen. This little book draws its viewer in to new worlds of writing, through which to read the wonders of creation described within its text.

La.III.525

This manuscript is an example of a “friendship album”, or album amicorum, kept by the Edinburgh-born George Craig. An album amicorum collects signatures or inscriptions by individuals, perhaps friends of the album’s owner, or those who the owner met on their travels. On the 8th August 1604, Bartilmo Kello and Esther Inglis both added inscriptions to Craig’s album while they were in London. These inscriptions are facing each other, and offer a striking comparison between the scribal hands of husband and wife.

Folios 7v-8r of MS La.III.525

La.III.249

This manuscript is a rare example of Esther Inglis working on a scribal commission; it is a copy of of Book 2 of the Latin ‘Treatise on Union’ composed by David Hume of Godscroft (1558-c.1630). Written in 1605, the manuscript is a presentation copy which Hume may have intended to present to King James VI/I and Prince Henry Frederick, as the dedicatees of this work. Although her name is not written in this manuscript, Esther Inglis’ calligraphy is clear from both the quality of its script, and her subtle floral decoration.

Title-page of MS La.III.249

La.III.439

This manuscript, produced by Esther Inglis in 1606, contains a copy of the popular religious and moral Quatrains written by Guy du Faur, Seigneur de Pybrac. In 1607, Inglis gave her manuscript as a gift for the New Year to Robert Cecil (1563-1612), 1st Earl of Salisbury. Like many of the books made by Inglis between 1600 and 1608, this manuscript has a richly illuminated title-page with a floral border (see this blog post), and each of its calligraphic verses would originally have been accompanied by individual botanical decorations. This particular manuscript of Quatrains, however, has been subject to the collecting or collaging activities of a later reader; with just four exceptions, all of these botanical decorations within the main text have been cut out. The manuscript makes for a fascinating record of the changing value judgements which have been placed upon this miniature book in the centuries after its production.

La.III.75

This manuscript is a collaborative production between Esther Inglis and her husband, Bartilmo Kello. The couple produced this manuscript in 1608 as a gift for Sir David Murray of Gorthy, thanking him for having secured the position of rector for Bartilmo Kello in the parish of Willingale Spain, in Essex. The text is Kello’s English translation of Yves Rouspeau’s Traitté de la préparation à la saincte Cène de Nostre seul Sauveur et Rédempteur (1563); Kello titles his version A Treatise of Preparation to the Holy Supper and of our only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Esther Inglis copies this text into her manuscript in scripts which closely imitate a printed book. Part of the intrigue of this manuscript lies in its print-like appearance, from its words to its layout, and this replication (or perfecting) of print is a technique which Inglis continues to develop across her career.

Title-page of MS La.III.75

La.III.522

MS La.III.522 is not written by Esther Inglis herself, but instead is a composite manuscript of pieces assembled by a later collector. It contains several different collections of calligraphy samples now bound into one. Two of these collections follow the aspect and structure of early-modern writing-books; two decorative alphabet structure samples of writing in different kinds of script. One of these decorative alphabets is composed of gothic, knotwork intials, as shown below. Scripts and decoration are embellished with gold ink; these writing-books were presumably not produced as teaching samples, but to demonstrate the skills of particular writing masters.

Gothic initials accompanying the calligraphy samples in MS La.III.522

These alphabetised calligraphy samples, however, have since been bound with other materials. Nicolas Barker’s suggestion is that the compilation was made by Archibald Constable, whose son David Constable (1795-1857) later sold the manuscript to David Laing on the 18th December 1828. None of the items in the manuscript are dated, but several names of possible scribes appear. One section of its calligraphic pieces bears the name Jacques Dorsanne, and is dedicated to Philippe de Mornay (1549-1623), a Huguenot writer and supporter of Henry IV of France. Two further pieces, meanwhile, are signed by a William Geddie (d. 1624), a scribe who worked “at Barnetoun” [Barnton], in the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Ornamental frame and miniature writing by “M.W.Gedde” (William Geddie), MS La.III.522

As Jamie Reid Baxter has shown, it is very likely that William Geddie was a relative of John Geddie, a scribe connected with the court of James VI. John Geddie is known to have copied a manuscript of George Buchanan’s poem De Sphaera [On the Sphere], which then passed to William Geddie. David Laing certainly thought that there was a connection between these two scribes; on the inner cover of this manuscript, he has added a transcription of a record from the 8th May 1577, which awards a yearly pension from George Buchanan to “his lovit Mr Johne Geddy”. As Jamie Reid Baxter and others have noticed, there are in turn clear connections between the style of decoration used in a presentation manuscript made by John Geddie for James VI in 1586, and the decorative borders and initials found in Esther Inglis’ own manuscripts produced between 1599 and 1602. This connection strongly suggests that Inglis herself knew John Geddie, and both Geddie scribes may have been part of her circle in late sixteenth-century Edinburgh.

Signature and inscription of David Laing on inner front cover, MS La.III.522

When David Laing published his description of this manuscript in 1865, he also noted the presence of one important document bound into the collection which has sadly since been lost. This document is a draft “warrant” which, had it ever been signed, would have appointed Bartilmo Kello to the position of “clerk of all passports” under King James VI/I. The text of this warrant also makes reference to “the mest exquisit wreater [writer] within this Realme” who was to assist in the writing of official documents under King James — Esther Inglis herself. The fact that Inglis herself is not named directly strongly suggests that her writing was already known within royal circles. By 1596-7, when this warrant is likely to have been drafted, neither she nor her calligraphy needed any introduction.

The presence of this draft warrant, together with the calligraphic nature of the rest of the items bound within this manuscript, presumably combined to invite David Laing’s attribution of MS La.III.522 to Esther Inglis in his 1865 “Notes” — an attribution which endured for the next 147 years. But the question remains whether the subsequent deattribution of this manuscript decreases its value or scholarly interest. And does this deattribution mean that MS La.III.522 has become less significant for the work of the “Esther Inglis 2024” project?

Far from it. As Project Curator, my own view is that Esther Inglis’ calligraphy can only be fully understood or appreciated when it is set alongside the productions of other scribes working in similar circles. MS La.III.522 contains the handwriting of other scribes working in and around Edinburgh at the same time as Inglis. How else can audiences measure the differences of what Inglis herself writes and draws, the influences which she calls upon, and the artists or writers to which she responds, if her work is not examined alongside the productions of these wider contexts? The contents and history of MS La.III.522 offer just such a touchstone against which to set Esther Inglis’ own manuscripts, the better to understand the exceptionality of what she, as a rare woman calligrapher known within the royal court, was able to accomplish.

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Peter Gallegan’s Collection of Irish Songs and Poems

To mark St Patrick’s Day, we thought we’d highlight a remarkable volume of Irish songs and poems that is in the University’s donated collections (ref. Coll-1366). The book was copied and compiled by Peter Gallegan or Peadar Úi Gealcáin (1792-1860) who was a scribe and a hedge school teacher in Moynalty parish, in County Meath.


It comprises about 700 pages, containing some 260 items in Irish, sometimes translated into English, and, as you would expect for a scribe, it is skilfully written. Gallegan always writes Irish in Irish script, English in cursive hand and titles in red ink. Some items are composed or translated by Gallegan himself and others were collected from local bards. In the main, the items are centred around love or patriotism and are often humorous or allude to characters from the classics. As with many collectors of that era, he endeavours to give biographical information on the composers and any background information on the subject matter. The following was composed for a young woman called Bridget.

Song entitled Réult na Maidne [The Morning star] Brighdin Padruic [or] Bridget Fergus. (Coll-1366, p. 355)

‘This is a Mayo song, Bridget lived about
the middle of the 17th Century, and was the
most beautiful female in Connaught. Her
father resided at Rohard, near Ballinrobe,
in Mayo, the song was the Joint Composition
of two contemporary bards, McNally & Fergus,
the latter having composed the 3rd. & 4th. Stanzas.’

The care with which Gallegan copied the material indicates the value he saw in its preservation. On one page (p. 488) he wrote:

Coll-1366, p. 488

‘This large, and comprehensive M.S.
is worth 5 £ Sterling, if ever it be
sold at all, which I think it will not.’

Unfortunately, Gallegan’s employment as a teacher was precarious and he had to move schools quite regularly to maintain an income (see Dictionary of Irish Biography). In the end, his poverty obliged him to sell the books he’d compiled.

Throughout the volume Gallegan regularly wrote notes about himself asserting his position as the scribe of the volume, in some ways indicating a sense of his own mortality in comparison to the book’s own anticipated longevity.

IS truagh sin a leabharain bhig bháin
Tiucfaidh an lá ort go fíor
Go ndearfaihd neach os cionn cláir
Uch! ní mairean an láimh do sgriob!!
How sad it is fair little book,
The day shall sine arrive,
When o’er thy page it shall be said
Thy Writer’s not alive!!
(Coll-1366, inside front cover)


As for its provenance, this volume came from the library of Eugène Guilford Finnerty (d. 1888) (see Calendar of Irish Wills, 1889). Finnerty passed it to the ‘Hon[ora]ble J Abercrombie’, i.e., probably John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby (1841-1924), and, although there is no known record of it, it looks like it was Abercrombie who donated it to the University of Edinburgh. Finnerty wrote on the final page that it was one of sixteen volumes Gallegan gave him in return for ‘some little kindness’. He adds (p. 702):

‘I doubt much if any of our National School=
masters have the talent perseverance or patriotic feeling
that this poor poor fellow possessed. I trust that
I have to a certain extent rendered him independent
and happy in his latter days without his applying
to any society whatever for his support (of which he
had the greatest abhorrence).’

Other similar volumes by Peter Gallegan are now held in repositories like University College Cork, the Royal Irish Academy, University College Dublin and Queens University Belfast, institutions a far cry from hedge school origins, but where they deservedly take their place among the richness of Irish cultural traditions.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh! – Happy St Patrick’s Day! – Là Fhèill Pàdraig sona dhuibh!

Kirsty M Stewart/Ciorstag Stiùbhart, Scottish and University Collections Archivist

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Resource List focus groups: We want to know what you think!

Vectored image of small people standing on and around a ginormous stack of books with a laptop balanced on top. The laptop screen shows the Resource List logo. Many of the small figures are reading books or on devices.

We’re in the midst of gathering feedback about Resource List use in each of our colleges and would like to invite our students to get involved in two short focus groups that will help us shape our approach to lists in the future.

We have planned groups for the following schools:

Law: Tuesday 26 March 2pm to 4pm

Geosciences: Thursday 28 March 10am to 12pm

Both groups will take place in Central Edinburgh so if you’re a student from one of these schools and available at these times, please email our project manager Karen to register your interest.

Tea, coffee and cake will be provided and participants will receive a £10 gift card for Blackwells, which can be used to purchase any of their worldly goods (including books, games, stationery and much more!).

There are eight spaces available in each group. All feedback will be used to inform the development of lists within the school and responses will be anonymised.

If you have any questions about the process please contact Karen Stirling by email.

Resource Lists logo - shows a graphic of a white book open at the central pages, on a teal background.

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Resource Lists: What do you think? We want to know!

Vectored image of small people standing on and around a ginormous stack of books with a laptop balanced on top. The laptop screen shows the Resource List logo. Many of the small figures are reading books or on devices.

We’re in the midst of gathering feedback about Resource List use within the School of Law and would like to invite our students to get involved in a short focus group that will help us shape our approach to lists in the future.

If you’re available on Tuesday, 26 March 2pm to 4pm and will be in Central Edinburgh then please email our project manager Karen to register your interest.

Tea, coffee and cake will be provided and participants will receive a £10 gift card for Blackwells, which can be used to purchase any of their worldly goods (including books, games, stationery and much more!).

There are eight spaces available. The focus group will take the form of informal discussion with some structured questions about whether or not you use the List system, what you like about it, and will give you lots of time to provide your thoughts and discuss with others in the room. All feedback will be used to inform the development of lists within the school and responses will be anonymised.

If you have any questions about the process please contact Karen Stirling by email.

Resource Lists logo: a stylised graphic of a white book open to the centre pages shows on a teal background. Text underneath the book image reads 'Resource Lists'

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The Achievements of Professor Charlotte Auerbach

In celebration of International Women’s Day, our volunteer Ash Mowat looks to the archives to see what can be discovered about the achievements of scientist Professor Charlotte Auerbach.

In this piece I am writing to remark upon files from the University of Edinburgh’s Heritage Collections on the pioneering German geneticist Charlotte Auerbach.[1] I come at this as a volunteer and enthusiast so not with any academic expertise in here scientific field.

Charlotte Auerbach (1899 to 1994) was a German Jewish scientist, specialising in the field of genetics. [2] She was born in Krefeld Germany, and from a family with a rich heritage in academia, education and the arts. Her grandfather Leopold was a renowned physician in human anatomy, whilst her father, perhaps her greatest direct influencer of her later chosen studies, was a biologist.

A Genetics Society of America obituary of her, found in the archives, describes how she first had her interest sparked in childhood. “Her interest in Biology was kindled when by her father who took time to teach her to identify birds and plants, as well as the constellations in the night sky. Her interest in Biology was not fostered in School, however, and she received no formal instruction in the subject (in School) after she was fifteen.” Of her later time as a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh it states “Often with little more than a short list of one word topics to guide her, she held the undivided attention of successive classes of undergraduates year after year. She spoke with authority but never minded being questioned.”

She went on to study biology and chemistry across several German Universities, excelling in her studies and commencing a career in teaching the sciences at School level. The rise of the Nazi government precipitated repeated obstacles to her rights to continue to work in education. These obstacles and the ever increasing threats posed to Jews by a brutal anti-Semitic regime persuaded her to leave Germany. She then settled in Edinburgh.

Handwritten Picture of Auerbach Family Tree

The Auerbach family tree above demonstrates the astonishing educational achievements of the extended family. Sadly, there is a tragic reference to the suspected death by suicide pact of her father’s sibling and wife in 1933, cited as brought about by persecutions of the Nazi government.

Auerbach received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1935 at the animal genetics institute, where she would remain until her retirement, involved in both research and in teaching University students.

The area which was to prove her chief subject of expertise was mutagenesis, this being when an organism is affected by mutation precipitated either naturally or via an external influence, such as chemicals, x-rays or ultraviolet light etc. [3]

In a lecture given in May 1957 in New York City to the Radiation Research Society, she refers to her breakthrough work in Edinburgh in the 1940’s, kept secret until some years after the end of the Second World War, that for the first time established a direct agent for mutagenesis, that of how mustard gas can cause cellular mutations in fruit flies.

The importance in this work was to reach better understanding of and protection from mutations. Agents that could potentially cause mutations could also be essential tools in medicine, such as x-rays and radiotherapy, therefore one factor in her research was to help best identify optimum levels of exposure and dosage of any mutagens, such as to maximise the best possible treatment outcome, whilst minimising the risk of destructive damage to tissues and risk of inducing cancers.

In a paper of July 1959 entitled “a discussion of mutagenic specificity” dated July 1959, she comments, “I am an evolutionist, I believe that the DNA and the two main components are intimately and, probably, spiritually conjoined”. In describing how mutagenesis functions she states “the mutagen must enter the cell and penetrate the nuclear membrane. Once inside the cell further genetic change may affect the mutagen, which then interacts with the hosts DNA.”

A letter granting Auerbach an Honorary Degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1977 A letter granting Auerbach an Honorary Degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1977

(The images above outline the granting to Auerbach of an Honorary Degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1977, one of many awards and accolades that she received throughout her life.)

Despite her many achievements I noted some instances where she could perhaps be overly self-critical of her work. In a letter to Dr Muller dated January 1946 she comments “My slow and plodding way of trying the same thing over and over again by different methods.” But later she recognises that this is surely the only way to undertake rigorous and effective science by remarking “After all, it is the only way which satisfies me and one can’t very well work in any other matter.”

Her methods were validated further in a written record of the cancer specialist Sir Anthony Haddow[4] from 1975. He observes of Auerbach “From the beginning I have had the highest opinion of Dr Auerbach’s great qualities as a researcher and teacher. In addition, I have a special reason for interest and respect, because of her pioneering in the field of chemical mutagenesis, contributions which have had an invaluable impact upon the closely related field of experimental carcinogenesis. Dr Auerbach was indeed, I believe, the first geneticist to demonstrate the mutagenic effect of chemical agents around 1940, and her method of analysis….has thrown much light on the mechanisms of gene mutation”.

Handwritten pages from the notebooks of Charlotte Auerbach

The above image from an undated hand written note book of Auerbach, further demonstrates the meticulous design of her experiments and thorough annotations. Such highly refined processes including use of control substances are essential in enabling proven results that can be replicated.

List of honours and awards achieved by Auerbach

The above summary of Auerbach’s lifetime catalogue of honours and awards is evidence of the sustained expertise of her specialised field of genetics, and how widely her achievements were recognised and valued.

Outside of her academic prowess, Auerbach had a reputation for generosity and philanthropy. In a letter after her death from Professor Nicola Loprieno to Professor Geoffrey Beale at the University of Edinburgh, he remarks “I wish, apart from the great scientific contributions Charlotte Auerbach left, that everybody remembered the deepest humanity she was gifted with. I should like to point out, as I personally witnessed it, how for many years she supported through an international organisation, and an Italian youth from Sicily. She provided for his living and education, from primary school to the Scuola Tecnica Agraria. His name is Angelo Alecci. After graduation, Mr Alecci became Professor at the Istituto Tecnico Agraria. So grateful was Mr Alecci that he named one of his daughters Charlotte Auerbach Alecci.”

And Professor Beale wrote “She had a great love of children…in fact she did unofficially adopt two boys. One (Michael Avern, the other being the aforementioned Mr Alecci) was the child of a German speaking woman who lived in Lotte’s house in Edinburgh as a companion.” He notes that Auerbach left her home to Michael Avern when she moved into a care home.

A picture of Charlotte Auerbach in her laboratory in the King's Buildings

In conclusion Charlotte Auerbach, or Lotte to her loved ones, devoted a lifetime of work to accomplish considerable advancements in the critical understanding of how genetics function and how such knowledge can improve healthcare. The circumstances that precipitated her having to flee Germany were obviously tragic and traumatic, however she proved to be a pioneering global asset in her chosen science. She made Edinburgh her home and a much admired and loved Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, enhancing its prestige and bestowing her knowledge upon a whole new generation of students eager to learn from her and continue the better understanding and exploration of genetics.

[1] https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/85712

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Auerbach

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutagenesis

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Haddow

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Rediscovering the Poetry of Louisa Agnes Czarnecki, a 19th-Century Edinburgh Writer and Musician

Today we are publishing a blog by Ash Mowat, a volunteer in the Civic Engagement Team, on a little known 19th-century Scottish poet. The Edinburgh-born Louisa Agnes Czarnecki (née Winter) was a versatile, politically engaged writer married to a Polish political exile. Read More

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Esther Inglis and her family in Edinburgh

This post explores in further detail the connections between Esther Inglis (c.1570-1624), her family, and the city and University of Edinburgh. This post is written by the project curator, Anna-Nadine Pike, with reference to unpublished research provided by Dr Jamie Reid Baxter (University of Glasgow).

Esther Inglis died on 30th August 1624. Her will, now held in the National Records of Scotland, is dated to the 11th March 1625; it records her death, and describes Inglis as “sometime spouse to Bartilmo Kello, indweller in Leith”. Four hundred years later, 2024 offers a milestone anniversary in which to celebrate and share the work of this unparalleled calligrapher, who deserves far greater recognition within and beyond the city in which so many of her manuscripts were produced. The city of Edinburgh itself plays a significant part in Esther Inglis’ life and manuscripts. From their first arrival in the city as Huguenot refugees, Inglis and her family were immersed in the urban landscape and networks of early modern Edinburgh. In September 1574, as Jamie Reid Baxter has discussed, Inglis’ father Nicolas Langlois became master of the French School in Edinburgh. From the 11th November that year, this post afforded accommodation for him and his family in a house “at the New Well”, owned by Alexander Udwart, close to the modern Guthrie Street which connects Chambers Street to Cowgate. The Burgh Records of Edinburgh for July 1580 note the payment “to Alexander Vddert £10” by the Council, to account for “the hous and schole of the maister of the Frainsche schole, Nicolas Anglois”. The Langlois family had early links with other high-ranking individuals in Edinburgh, including David Lindsay, the minister of Leith, who provided early assistance to Nicolas and Marie Presot on their arrival in the capital.

Esther Inglis’ further integration into the political and social networks of Edinburgh must have followed her marriage to the Scottish clerk Bartilmo Kello, who was a servitor to his kinsmen Bishop Adam Bothwell and his son John, Lord Holyroodhouse. Several of Inglis’ surviving manuscripts are dedicated to members of the Scottish nobility; in 1602, she presents an intricate copy of the books of Ecclesiastes and Lamentations in French to Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll (1575-1638). In a flattering dedication, she describes the many “rares vertus desquelles Dieu et nature se sont forcez d’orner vostre Seigneurie par dessus les autres Princes de vostre aage” [rare virtues with which God and nature have been compelled to adorn your Lordship, above the other Princes of your age]. At least four manuscripts were presented to Scottish men and women in the year 1616 alone: to Robert Frenche, Clerk of Kircaldy, the Archbishop of St Andrews John Spottiswood, to Robert Boyd of Trochrig, and to Boyd’s wife, Anna Maliverne de Lavignolle. The dedicatory letters which Esther Inglis writes, mostly in French, between 1599 and 1602, and again from 1616, are often signed “a Lislebourg” [at Edinburgh] or “de Lislebourg en Ecosse” [from Edinburgh in Scotland]. In this way, her books emphasise their Scottish production, while also retaining Esther Inglis’ own identity as a Frenchwoman who lives and works “en Ecosse”.

The end of Inglis’ dedication to Elizabeth I in a 1599 Book of Psalms. Oxford: Christ Church, MS 180, fol.Vv.

 

Beyond Inglis’ connections with the city of Edinburgh, however, there is a further significance to “Esther Inglis 2024” taking place within this University. The University of Edinburgh was founded as Tounis College in 1582, opening in 1583, and initially offered just one four-year course, the Master of Arts. The first principal of the University was Robert Rollock (1555-1599), and from August 1587 the graduations of the college began to be recorded. In 1588, one of these graduates was David Inglis, Esther Inglis’ elder brother. It is likely that this is the same “David Inglis” who, in 1588, adds his signature to the First Laureation Album held in the University’s archives.

Laureation Degrees for 1588 (First Laureation Album). Edinburgh University Archives, EUA IN1/ADS/STA/1/1

 

Robert Rollock is also one of several Scottish individuals who composes neo-Latin verses in praise of Esther Inglis’ calligraphy; Inglis copies such laudatory verses by Rollock into her manuscripts between 1599 and 1606, and again in 1624.  One such example is this four-line verse, included in Inglis’ 1599 Book of Psalms for Queen Elizabeth I. Rollock compares Inglis to the classical Greek artist Apelles who was famed for his ability to paint the finest line possible:

Egregiam peperit laudem sibi pictor Apelles
Caelatur Calamis arte etiam meruit
Tu calamo Calamin superas pictura et Apellem
Psalmographi pingens Davidis Ester opus.

[The painter Apelles won great praise for himself
It is engraved that, by the art of the pen, he also deserved it
You, Esther, by the pen surpass the pen, and surpass Apelles in depiction
Depicting the work of the psalm-writer David.]

Poem by Robert Rollock in praise of Esther Inglis. Oxford: Christ Church, MS 180, fol.VIIv.

Robert Rollock writes further epigrammatic verses which are dedicated to the specific recipients of some of Inglis’ manuscripts; he writes a verse in praise of Robert Earl of Essex to be included in the Book of Proverbs which Inglis dedicates to Essex in 1599. He also writes a verse for Elizabeth I, for Inglis’ 1599 Psalms, and another for Anthony Bacon, the dedicatee of Inglis’ copy of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, also in 1599.

Even prior to his offering of these verses, however, Robert Rollock seems to have have established a yet closer relationship with both Inglis and Kello. This is suggested by his appointment as a witness to the baptism of Samuel Kello on the 13th March 1596 — a role which, Jamie Reid Baxter notes, is equivalent to a godfather. Samuel was baptised with his twin sister, Agnes, about whom, sadly, nothing else is presently known.
Samuel Kello is later seen to have followed in the footsteps of his uncle, David Inglis, in attending Edinburgh’s Tounis College. He matriculated at the University in 1615, and in 1617 is described as Academiae Edinburgensis Alumno on the title-page of a printed collection of poems which he authored and dedicated to James VI/I. The shortened title of this volume is Carmen gratulatorium [a song of congratulations], published by the Edinburgh printer Andro Hart.

The University of Edinburgh, then can be seen as a truly fitting place in which to celebrate the manuscripts and life of Esther Inglis, and the circles in which she moved. The newly-founded University played an important part in the lives of Inglis’ relations, soon after their arrival in the city. The Inglis-Kello family later establish a lasting connection with Robert Rollock, its first principle, whose personalised verses seem to integrate Inglis’ calligraphic manuscripts into his own early-modern scholarly network. The city of Edinburgh itself is woven into the impression of authorial identity which is found in Esther Inglis’ early manuscripts, and becomes a place to which she returns in later life. Four hundred years later, the University of Edinburgh is working to ensure that the impression which Esther Inglis and her family left upon this city in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is not forgotten.

Esther Inglis’ Discours de la Foy, 1591, with “Escrit a Lislebourg” on its title-page. San Marino: Huntington Library, HM 26068.

 

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Dissertation prep: resources for writing dissertations

Did you know the library has a list of resources that can help you get started with big research projects such as dissertations? You may feel a bit overwhelmed about how to begin, but the library team have helpfully compiled a Resource List of books, guidance and articles that we think will ensure you feel more confident:

Law Dissertation (UG) 

Law Dissertation (PG)

Resource Lists are clickable pages of bookmarks that link directly to items in our library catalogue, many of which you can access online. Most courses will have prescribed Resource Lists that indicate the reading for your modules, and students tell us they find them helpful and easy to use. PG Students will also find this list linked in the Learn pages for PG dissertation students.

If this is your first time conducting a large research project, you may find the session we run each semester for PhD students in Law to be of interest. You can watch a recording of this session on our Media Hopper channel here:

Screengrab of first slide of Sources, Materials and Bibliographies recording.

Finally if you’re struggling to get to grips with literature searching then you can arrange a one-to-one appointment with us, your Law Librarian team. Visit the MyEd Events Booking system and look for ‘literature search clinic’ and select the option relating to Law. We offer appointments most weeks, and if you can’t see a bookable slot that suits you please email us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.

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Looking Ahead – Our 2024 Project Preview

A photograph of a highly decorative manuscript with art of flowers, insects, and birds

Esther Inglis Manuscript – Photo by Anna Pike, Project Curator

I began working with the Cultural Heritage Digitisation Services team last November, as a Digitisation Operator. Before joining the team, I was digitising plant specimens in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. I am also a photographer, with my work most recently appearing in the Accidentally Wes Anderson exhibition which opened in London December 2023.  

2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with several projects in the works. Some of these have been in the planning stages for a long time, and we really couldn’t be more eager to finally get started. With that in mind, we thought it might be fun to provide a ‘movie trailer’ of sorts, with a short preview of each project we plan to tackle in 2024:  Read More

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Looking Under the Scope this LGBT+ History Month

LGBT+ History Month Badge Design.February is LGBT+ History Month and this year’s theme is #UnderTheScope. This celebrates LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to the field of Medicine and Healthcare both historically and today.

To help you learn more we’ve pulled together just a small selection of Library resources that will allow you to start to look ‘Under the Scope’.

Books

Book coverFor a rich examination of the history of trans medicine and current day practice, Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender draws on interviews with medical providers as well as ethnographic and archival research to examine how health professionals approach patients who seek gender-affirming care. The essays in Queer Interventions in Biomedicine and Public Health historicise and theorise diagnosis, particularly diagnosis that impacts trans health and sexuality, queer health and identity, and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

Book cover

#UnderTheScope also aims to shine a light on the health inequalities facing LGBT people even today. Transgender health: a practitioner’s guide to binary and non-binary trans patient care shows healthcare and medical practitioners how to deliver excellent care to gender diverse patients. Based on cutting edge research and the lived experience of the author as a non-binary person, this is essential reading for all those working to meet the needs of transgender people in healthcare settings. The remedy: queer and trans voices on health and health care invites readers to imagine what we need to create healthy, and thriving LGBT+ communities in this anthology of real-life stories from queer and trans people on their own health-care experiences and challenges.

LGBT collections at Lothian Health Services Archive

Some of the LGBT-related resources held by Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA) include the archive of Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, the UK’s first gay helpline and Scotland’s first gay charity, and unrivaled collections that document Edinburgh’s response to HIV from 1983 to the 21st century, spanning voluntary groups, charities, local authorities, the NHS, and health promotion campaigns.

The source list on the LHSA website provides a detailed list of LGBT resources in LHSA.

LHSA is part of the University’s Heritage Collections and holds the historically important local records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material. For information about visiting please read the information on Services and Access.

More resources to look Under the Scope

If you want to further explore LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to medicine and healthcare then you can use some of the Library’s research databases to search for journal articles, book chapters, reviews, theses, conference papers, etc., on this topic and beyond.Screenshot of Archives of Sexuality and Gender

Archives of Sexuality & Gender provides a significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, you can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, social movements and activism, and many other interesting topical areas.

Use the online resource LGBT Thought and Culture to find books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. The collection illuminates the lives of lesbians, gays, transgender, and bisexual individuals and the community.

Researching hidden and forbidden people from the past can be difficult. Terminology used to write about LGBT+ people has shifted over time or is obscured. A practical guide to searching LGBTQIA historical records is an accessible guide to doing historical research on LGBT+ subjects in libraries, archives and museums.

Even more resources to help you discover LGBT+ history can be found in the Gender and Sexuality Studies subject guide.

What are we missing?

This is just a small selection of the resources on LGBT+ history in the Library. However, if there are areas in the collections that could be improved or you know of a book the Library doesn’t already have, you can use the Request a Book form to tell us.

 

Note that some online resources mentioned in this blog post are only available to current students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

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