Resources and Facilities
Special Collections
The University Library’s Special Collections provides an outstanding resource for medieval and renaissance studies in all disciplines. Assembled since the University’s foundation in 1451, the wide ranging collections include particularly strong holdings of late medieval manuscripts and early printed books (with over 1,000 incunabula).
The Hunterian Collection is of special importance. One of the finest 18th century libraries to remain intact, it contains some 10,000 printed books and 650 manuscripts. Immensely varied in its subject coverage, its strengths include devotional texts, vernacular literature, the classics, medicine, typography and early printing, natural history, and the literature of exploration and travel. Its greatest treasure is the twelfth-century Hunterian Psalter , one of the major monuments of English Romanesque art; other manuscript highlights include a number of important English manuscripts, including the only known extant manuscript copies of Chaucer’s Romaunt de la Rose and Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. The collection also boasts no fewer than ten 
copies of books printed by Caxton, as well as many examples of works produced by the finest continental Renaissance printers, such as Aldus Manutius. The Stirling Maxwell Collection of emblem literature, the Ferguson Collection of early alchemical and related texts (such as books of secrets, the occult sciences and witchcraft) and the Euing Collection of music, general literature and Bibles, are all collections holding material of historical and international importance.
For further information, see the detailed descriptions of each collection on the Special Collections web pages, or browse the expanding series of virtual exhibitions and course material pages, set up to highlight resources for specific subjects. Special Collections staff are always happy to discuss research projects or to advise generally on best use of the material, so please do not hesitate to contact the department if you have any queries.
