Detail map of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom,Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom Overview map of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom,Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

A: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, B: Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

Walter Chepman & Androw Myllar Issue The Aberdeen Breviary, the First "Major" Book Printed in Scotland

1509 to 1510
Aberdeen Breviary. Psalter

A page of the Aberdeen breviary from the copy in the National Library of Scotland.

 The Aberdeen Breviary, published in 1507 and the first major work to be printed in Scotland, briefly recounts the lives of various Scottish saints. (View Larger)

The first "major" book printed in Scotland was the 2-volume Breuiarij Aberdone[n]sis ad percelebris eccl[es]ie Scotor[um] potissimu[m] vsum et consuetudine[m] [The Aberdeen Breviary for the principal use and custom of the most famous church of the Scots]. It is generally known as the Aberdeen BreviaryThe book was commissioned by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, and printed from 1509 to 1510 in Edinburgh at the press of the first printers in Scotland, Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar

Only four complete sets of this two-volume work survive. Two sets are now at the National Library of Scotland and available via the NLS website.

 

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