University of Glasgow

UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

 
Part of the Library and University Services

Hamilton Collection

 

folio 190v from MS Hamilton 26

The library of Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856), Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in Edinburgh University. Approximately 8,000 volumes, the emphasis being on works on logic, aesthetics and the history of philosophy, and on Greek and Latin classical texts - 150 editions of Aristotle alone, together with numerous commentaries on him. As well as 30 incunabula, the collection includes some 200 volumes of Latin poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Scottish humanist, George Buchanan, was Hamilton’s favourite author and is represented in the collection by no less than 32 editions of his works. There are also 147 manuscripts of a miscellaneous nature. Largely through the efforts of Professor John Veitch and Dr Anderson Kirkwood, private subscribers in Glasgow raised £2,000, which enabled Hamilton’s library to be purchased and presented to the University Library in 1878.
 

Finding aids and descriptions

  • All entries for the printed items have been added to the main Library catalogue; search in the usual way or browse through a list of titles (warning! since the collection is very large only the first 5,000 records are displayed here: searching the catalogue for particular titles is recommended)
  • Entries for the manuscript items are catalogued as MS Hamilton and may be searched via the online manuscripts catalogue; browse through a list of titles (eg. type MS Hamilton in the call number box to browse through a list of item descriptions)
  • John Durkan, Bibliography of George Buchanan (Glasgow, 1994).
  • John Durkan, Stephen Rawles and Nigel Thorp. George Buchanan, 1506-1582: Renaissance scholar and friend of Glasgow University Library: a quatercentenary exhibition, Glasgow University Library, 17 May-7 August 1982: catalogue (Glasgow, 1982).