This is the first study of Jacobean Scotland’s largest library: the collection assembled over several generations by the Lindsays of Balcarres. It challenges prior understandings of pre-Union Scotland’s book culture, presents the catalogue of a collection of international importance for the first time, and recovers the intellectual history behind this Great Bibliotheck .

The volume includes chapters on the history of the library to the Restoration (Jane Stevenson) and from Restoration to Enlightenment (Kelsey Jackson Williams) as well as a detailed discussion of the library’s reconstruction (William Zachs and Jackson Williams), a full catalogue, and appendices.