Francis Scott 1626-1656

Francis Scott, 2nd Earl of Bucchleuch, 1626-1656

Biographical Note

He was the son of Walter Scott, 1st Earl of Buccleuch and his wife, Lady Mary Hay, daughter of Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll. He studied at St Leonard’s College, St Andrews in around 1640. He succeeded the earldom of Buccleuch in the Scottish borders in 1633. In July 1646, he married Lady Margaret Leslie, daughter of John Leslie, 6th Earl of Rothes.

Books

He presented 113 books to St Leonard’s College in 1645. The vast majority of his books are early 17th century editions of theological works, with the works of the humanist philosopher Julius Caesar Scaliger and his son, the Calvinist historian Joseph Justus Scaliger, well represented. His bequest now forms the Buccleuch collection at the University of St Andrews.

Characteristic Markings

His books were uniformly bound at the time of his donation. Daryl Green notes that “Each volume has been bound in dark stained calf on boards, with a double gold fillet (usually with gold-stamped floral corners) and the Earl’s coat of arms stamped in gold, with the intials “E.F.B.” on both boards. This stamp does not vary in size, infact the stamp hardly fits on some of the smaller items (see left), and so it is assumed that it was cut for this donation. The coat of arms featured on these bindings is the earliest Buccleuch design, before the Earldom and Duchy expanded. These books are further decorated, when possible (i.e. when the spine was big enough), with the Earl’s coat of arms and initials stamped in gold in each spine panel of each volume. When the surface of the spine was not wide enough, only his initials were stamped.” (Echoes from the vault blog post, ref below)

Sources

• University of St Andrews Special Collections Blog: Echoes from the vault