Edinburgh University Library

[1] Today, Edinburgh's university-wide library system holds over 3.8m books, e-books and e-journals in total.

[2] The University was founded by Royal Charter from King James VI in 1582 and opened in 1583, however the library pre-dated this by three years.

[3][4] Until 1708, the teaching staff consisted of four regents and the Principal, the former taking each class through a year's part of the whole arts curriculum of logic, metaphysics, ethics and physics, which included the elements of mathematics and astronomy.

Until the middle of the 17th century, by which time the library must have exceeded the 2,400-odd volumes listed in Robert Lumsden's shelf catalogue of 1637, the teaching tended to be commentaries on Aristotle.

The University of Edinburgh is also the host of a research project in conjunction with the British Library and ATILF called The Making of the Queen's Manuscript, which focuses on Christine de Pizan's Harley MS 4431.