The First Carnegie Library

A Carnegie Library. How often, in town after town, we have heard that title: Carnegie Library. Why, in one State alone of the United States there are no fewer than 131 Carnegie Libraries. This one in Dunfermline is the father of them all. It is the first of the Carnegie Libraries Its foundation stone was laid in 1881 by Andrew Carnegie's mother. It was twenty years later -one year after he had declared that a "man who dies rich dies dis-graced"-that he retired from business to spend the last eighteen years of his life distributing the millions of what he called his "surplus wealth". The library is now maintained by the town, but the Trust still helps it.

And it is in the library given to the town by Andrew Carnegie and still assisted by the Trust he founded that we come again upon the name of Queen Margaret. Among the more than 70,000 volumes in the library is an exquisite fascimile copy of St Margaret's "Gospel Book", on the fly-leaf of which is written. Presented to Dunfermline by her loyal Burgess Louise Whitfield Carnegie. The original "Gospel Book" is now in the Bodleian Library. It was written in the IIth century, and this is how Turgot, Queen Margaret's confessor, describes it:
"A book of the Gospels beautifully adorned with gold and precious stones, and ornamented with the figures of the four Evangelists, painted and gilt. All the capital letters shone all over with the ruddy glow of gold. She had always felt a particular attachment for this book, more so than for any of the others which she usually read. It happened that as the person who carried it was once crossing a ford, he let the book, which had been carelessly folded in a piece of cloth, fall into the middle of the river. Unconscious of what had occurred, the bearer quietly continued his journey; but when he wished to produce the book, suddenly it dawned upon him that he had lost it. Long was it sought, but nowhere could it be found. At last it was discovered lying open at the bottom of the river, so that its leaves were being kept in constant motion by the action of the water, and the little coverings of silk, which protected the letters of gold, to prevent their being dulled by contact with the leaves, were carried off by the force of the current. Who would fancy that the book could afterwards be of any value? Who would believe that even a single letter would be visible? Yet, as a fact, it was taken out of the middle of the river so perfect, so uninjured, so free from damage, that it did not seem to have been touched by the water. The whiteness of the leaves and the run of the writing throughout the volume remained exactly as it had been before it had fallen into the river, except that in part of the outer leaves the least possible mark of damp might be detected. The book was conveyed to the Queen, and the miracle was related to her at the same time; and she, having thanked Christ, valued it much more highly than she had done before."

The Voice of Brother Hillantus

The library possesses many rare treasures. One of its finest is the Missale Romanum, a 15th-century missal, its pages laid thick with gold and tabbed with tiny bobbins of vellum. It was written, probably in some monastery, between the years 1400 and 1440- about the time James I was King of Scotland. The book, in Latin, is a service-book according to the forms of the Church of Rome, and is probably similar to the one used in Dunfermline Abbey at this time. It is bound in the original monastic pigskin binding with brass clasps, and the tabs of vellum are to make the turning over of the pages easier.

The first twelve pages consist of a calendar showing the saints' days. This is followed by 116 leaves of small text, giving the prayers, Epistles and Gospels from Advent to Easter. The Canon of the Mass follows, written in large letters on forty-one leaves, and this is followed by 150 leaves of smaller text with the Epistles, Gospels and prayers from Easter to Advent.

We know one of the scribes who so patiently laboured over this beautiful work some 600 years ago, for he has recorded his name in it and has called for our prayers for him. On the margin of one of the pages of the Mass, opposite the words memoria vivorum, is a hair-line nourish of decoration and, caught in the flourish, are some words in Latin, tiny perfect letters written in red ink, Pray for your brother Hillantus, the Rubricator. The rubricator was the man who inscribed and coloured the capital letters, and now as we look at those wonderful patches of exquisitely interwoven gold and colour it seems that we can the more vividly appreciate their lovely delicacy and intricacy, knowing now the name of that Brother Hillantus who worked so absorbedly at his task until suddenly the words memoria vivorum aroused him, and in the margin-in letters small enough to be at first glance mistaken as but a decorative flourish-he sent down the centuries his name.

The Missale Romanum is one of a collection of mediaeval manuscripts dating back to 1300 gifted to the Library by George Reid. Other volumes in the Reid collection include Shakespeare Second and Fourth Folios; a 1482 Euclid printed in Venice, which is the first book ever printed with woodcut diagrams; a woven book, its prayers and decorations woven in silk in Lyons; and a 1491 St Jerome's Bible in Latin, which is the first book from the Basle Press of John Froben. There is also in the Library the valuable Erskine Beveridge collection of books and pamphlets about Dunfermline and West Fife, and the world-famous Murison Burns collection comprising many rare and valuable editions of the work of Robert Burns and numerous relics of the poet donated to the town by Sir Alexander Gibb. There are editions of Burns in many languages and copies of the Kilmarnock, First Edinburgh, First London and First Dublin editions.

Among 16th-century books of local interest is the Bassandyne Bible. This was the first Bible to be printed in Scotland. Thomas Bassandyne was an Edinburgh printer who had studied the art of printing at Leyden. George Young, servant to the Abbot of Dunfermline, was officially appointed to supervise the publication of the Bible.

The works of Robert Henryson, poet and schoolmaster of Dunfermline in the 15th century, are another interesting item in the local collection.

A King's Love Story

Another absorbing book is the King's Quair which James I- who was born in Dunfermline in 1394-wrote while in prison in England. From his prison window he used to watch Lady Jane Beaufort in the garden. His poems were inspired by her, and some of the illustrations of Lady Jane and James are on show in the library.

Charles I, who was born in Dunfermline Palace in 1600, is represented in the library by the Eikon Basilike or The King's Book, which was secretly published in 1648. It consists of his meditations during his misfortunes.

Other treasured exhibits are facsimile copies of letters to King James VI from his children and grandchildren, Henderson's Annals of Dunfermline from 1069-1878, Chalmers' History of Dunfermline, the Registrum de Dunfermlyn, and Dr Erskine Beveridge's Burgh Records.

The earliest item on the weaving industry is the Minute Book of the Incorporation of Weavers of Dunfermline, which dates back to the 16th century, and the latest is a pattern of the silk woven in Dunfermline for Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress.

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