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JD Forbes Collection

The library of James David Forbes (1809-1868), an eminent scientist (especially in the field of glaciology) and Principal of the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard at St Andrews from 1859; presented in 1929 by his son George Forbes, FRS. It contains around 1350 volumes including books of the 16th-19th centuries, chiefly scientific, with some classics and alpine travel; the majority are pre-1851, over 500 pre-1801. Essentially a working library in the physical sciences, but a strong interest in the history of science is evident, and there are many outstanding antiquarian items such as Paccioli's Divina proportione (1509) and Summa de arithmetica (1523); Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543); several Galileos, including a presentation Difesa (1607); Kepler, Astronomia nova (1609); and Newton, Principia (1687) and Opticks (1704) The Department of manuscripts also holds JD Forbes' papers.

Finding aids

The whole collection is available through the on-line catalogue. The collection has the prefix For.