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Spoliation reports

This institution also provides a list of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933-1945.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
EDINBURGH EH1 1EW

Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation:

Cate Newton, Director of Collections and Research
Tel +44 (0)131-623-3700
Fax +44 (0)131-623-3701

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

The National Library is the largest in Scotland, with around 14 million printed items, over 100,000 manuscripts, around  2 million  maps, and 25,000 newspaper and magazine titles. Its special characteristics derive from its status as a national and legal deposit library. Since 1710 the Library has had the right, under successive Copyright Acts, to acquire all books published in the United Kingdom, and it now seeks to obtain, through legal deposit, books and other publications that are within the scope of the Library's collection development policy. (By reciprocal legislation the British Copyright Libraries have similar rights in the Republic of Ireland). The Library also acquires, mainly by purchase, but also by gift and deposit, older books, maps and music, modern foreign publications, and manuscripts.

1. OVERALL PLANS

A Areas which could contain looted items
Printed Books.

B Areas excluded and why
All items acquired as new, or that were acquired before 1933 or published after 1945.

The Library has no paintings within its collections.

C Target areas and timetable for research

Printed Books

Within the period 1933-1945, in line with the Library's collection development policies most acquisitions of non-current books were of British publications, and the majority of those not falling into this category were of relatively low financial value.  The exceptions are:

It is also necessary to investigate acquisitions made after 1945 whose provenance history is uncertain for the period 1933-1945. The main categories here are:

D Areas considered a lower priority (as distinct from excluded) and why

Acquisitions of entire collections ("special named collections") put together by their previous owners wholly or in part in the period 1933-1945 or put together after 1945 and including books whose provenance history is uncertain for the period 1933-1945.  Such collections do not usually contain individual items of significant value.

2. RESEARCH CARRIED OUT OR BEING CARRIED OUT IN INITIAL TARGET AREAS

Accessions 1933-1945

To identify continental incunabula acquired 1933-1945 we have used (1) W. Beattie, Supplement to the hand-list of incunabula in the National Library of Scotland (1944) and his Second supplement ... (1946), (2) accessions registers in the Library's archives, and (3) the Library's published annual reports.  From these sources we have compiled a spreadsheet listing all incunabula we have identified as acquired in this period, and for each one we have recorded such accession details and relevant earlier provenances as are available: as of 18 May 2009 there are 86 items in this list.  Provenances for books do not have the same importance as evidence for authenticity as they do for artworks and many of these items do not have full provenance histories.  However, many are either known to have been in the UK before 1933 or seem likely to have been, and on the basis of research to date none is known for certain to have been on the Continent in the period 1933-1945.  Provenance research on items in this list is ongoing.

To identify post-1500 continental books (or occasionally British books with continental provenances) acquired in the period 1933-1945 we have used source (2) above, and added a list of significant items to our spreadsheet.

Post-1945 accessions

We have identified post-1945 acquisitions of individual continental incunabula by listing all the Library's incunabula not indexed in W. Beattie's publications (although Beattie's objective was to describe all incunabula acquired since the previous listing of 1913, he also provided an index to all the incunabula in the Library's collections at that time).  There are about 220.  These have now been entered into a list on our spreadsheet and accession details added: work is in progress on adding provenance information.  Many have a pre-1933 Scottish provenance: for example, 36 were purchased in 1959 from the Signet Library, Edinburgh, where they were part of that library's 19th-century acquisitions.

For post-1945 acquisitions of individual post-1500 continental books (or occasionally British books with continental provenances) our methodology is to check the Library's published annual reports for as long as they included reports of important accessions, and later the reports of significant accessions presented to the Library's Board of Trustees four times a year.  The list thus created is a very selective one as most acquisitions were made with a view to their research value and are not of significant monetary value.  As of 18 May 2009, this listing has been done for April 1997 onwards, using the Principal Additions lists on the Library's website at http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/additions/ and added to our spreadsheet.  These items were acquired from booksellers and auction houses in a number of countries, within Europe and beyond, and their earlier provenances are mostly unknown.

Special named collections

To identify Library collections formed by earlier collectors whose activities fell wholly or in part in the period 1933-1945 we have checked through the special named printed collections listed in a database available through our website at http://www/nls/uk/catalogues/online/snpc/index/cfm: this lists all the Library's collections of this kind.  We have added to our spreadsheet a listing of all collections (17 as of 18 May 2009) which on grounds of date of collecting and publication date of items could contain spoliated items, though these collections contain few individual items of any great value.  However in none of these cases have detailed acquisition records kept by the collectors come to us, and so the provenances of individual items are obscure.

4. INFORMATION ON MAKING GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR ABOUT COLLECTIONS

A. Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation
Cate Newton, Director of Collections and Research, Tel  +44 (0)131-623-3700, Fax +44 (0)131-623-3701

B. Details of Published catalogues and how to get access to them
The Library's Catalogue of Manuscripts Acquired Since 1925 began publication in 1938 and is widely available in research libraries. The most recent catalogue data are available online at the Library's website. Catalogue records for most printed books are also available online. Specialised catalogues and finding lists for other materials, such as maps and music, and records for books not yet converted to online form, are available in the Library's reading rooms.

C. Archives

The official archives of the National Library of Scotland consist of the administrative records of the National Librarian & Chief Executive and Trustees, and of the various departments and divisions of the Library from the establishment of the Library, by Act of Parliament, in 1925. Included also in the Library archives are some earlier files relating mostly to the transfer of the non-legal collections of the Advocates' Library to the nation to form the new National Library.

Earlier archives of the administration and operation of the Advocates' Library from the late 17th century to 1925 (the 'Faculty Records') are deposited in the National Library but remain the property of the Faculty of Advocates. Access is by permission of the Keeper of the Advocates Library.

The National Library archives deal with every aspect of the Library's activities, including meetings of the Board of Trustees and its committees, the National Librarian's records, and records relating to general administration, finance, exhibitions, public outreach and publications, accessions, deposits, catalogues and cataloguing.

Requests for access to the Library archives should be addressed in the first instance to Graeme Hawley, Corporate Information Officer, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EW
e-mail: g.hawley@nls.uk

D. How to make enquiries about collections

Enquiries can be made in person, by telephone (+44 (0)131-623-3700), fax (+44 (0)131-623-3701) and e-mail (enquiries@nls.uk), or by post to National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW.

E. Press office contact

+44 (0)131-623-3762

F. Address of the Institution

National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
EDINBURGH EH1 1EW

G. Website

http://www.nls.uk