George Douglas ca.1667/8-ca.1693

Lord George DOUGLAS ca.1667/1668-ca.1693

Armorial stamp of William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry (British Armorial Bindings. Found on Ad titulum pandectarum de iustitia, et iure, enarrationum liber, Conte Landi Costanzo, 1549, held at the Advocates Library, Historical Collection A.82.4.)

Armorial stamp of William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry (British Armorial Bindings. Found on Commentarius ad leges tam regias, quam XII. tabularum mores, et canones, Romani iuris antiqui …, Antonius Clarus Sylvius, 1603, held at the Advocates Library, Alva Collection 118).

Biographical Note

Lord George Douglas, youngest son of William Douglas, the Duke of Queensberry, amassed a large collection of books, mostly on his extended Grand Tour from April 1686 to January 1693, with the assistance of his tutor Alexander Cuningham. He matriculated in Glasgow University in 1682 and left March 1686.

Books

His library was donated to the library of the Faculty of Advocates by his father after his death, the first major bequest to that library. It comprised over 850 sixteenth and seventeenth century books, mostly from continental publishers. Douglas had a particular 'preoccupation with Italian literature' (Kelly, The Stair Society, 164), and his library included a significant collection of translations of religious texts. The largest subject groups, in order, were legal works, Italian, Greek and Latin literature, and then books on classical antiquities. W. A. Kelly discusses his library and particularly its significance in law. A manuscript catalogue of the collection is held at the National Library of Scotland, shelfmark F.R.198.

Characteristic Markings

George Douglas' books generally have a donor's inscription on a front flyleaf, "'Lib: D: D: Georgij Douglas Bibliothecae Facultatis Juridicae Edinburgi Donat:'.". Douglas' father marked some of his son's books with gilt binding stamps of the Queensbury arms and his own initials (WD). Many of the books have prices and dates of purchase recorded in them in manuscript.

Sources

• British Armorial Bindings.
• "Douglas Collection," The Faculty of Advocates.
• "Douglas Collection," National Library of Scotland.
• W. A. Kelly, 'Lord George Douglas (1667/1668?-1693?) and his Library', The Stair Society, Miscellany three (edited by W.M. Gordon), Edinburgh, 1992, 160-172.