This Volume contains a fully revised Register of Titles

The following fully revised Register of Titles brings together all lists published in earlier volumes as well as a considerable number of titles hitherto unlisted. The Register of Titles was revised by Dr Christine Robinson of the English Language Department of the University of Edinburgh, with the specialist help of Mr Ian Cunningham, former Director of Special Collections in the National Library of Scotland, and Dr Athol Murray, former Keeper of the Records of Scotland. DOST was extremely fortunate in securing the services of such distinguished scholars for what is a key element in the tools offered by the Dictionary. All bibliographical information is as at the publication date of June 2001.
The usual form of entry is a short title (as used in the dictionary entries) followed by the date of the work enclosed in square brackets. This is followed by a longer title (in italics) and, where appropriate, the author(s) (surname, forenames or initials). In the case of published books, this is followed by the editor(s), if any, (surname, forenames or initials), designated (ed(s).). If the publication is one in a series produced by a Club or Society, this is noted and, where the information has been available from the catalogues consulted, the number of the publication in the series is given. Finally, the publisher, the place of publication and the date of publication are given. Where the entry is part of a larger printed work, the title is followed by ‘In’ and the reference for the larger work is then given as above. Page numbers are included where possible. Where the entry comes from a periodical, the title is followed by ‘In’ and the name of the periodical, the volume number and the date are given, with page numbers where possible. Manuscript entries give the location of the MS and the reference number, where known. Rare books may also have locations given and early books may have details from ‘Aldis’, ‘STC’, or ‘Wing’. These refer to:
A List of Books printed in Scotland before 1700. Aldis, H.G.; revised edn., Edinburgh 1970.
Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475-1640. Pollard, A.W., Redgrave, G.R.; second edn. London, 1976-91.
Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries 1641-1700. Wing, D.; revised edn., 1982-98.

Those works described as recent editions have not been used for citation purposes but have been included, where known, as alternatives to cited MSS or rare books which may be hard to obtain.

Where there are deviations from these general guidelines, such deviations have been allowed to improve clarity or to provide additional information. Entries may contain details which may be helpful, such as the content or date of particular volumes. The use of square brackets, other than in the first date, indicates that the information enclosed has been supplied from a source other than the work itself. There is a degree of inconsistency, for example in the amount of detail given in authors’ names. These irregularities are the result of following catalogue entries and including as much information as these entries provided, in the form in which it was given there, thereby aiming to make the data provided in DOST as helpful as possible to readers wishing to relocate works using library catalogues.

Because of the length of time needed for the compilation of the Dictionary, inevitably some of the source material has become difficult to locate. This is particularly true of manuscript material in private hands and there have been occasions where it has not been possible to give full and accurate references. The use of a question mark before a part of an entry indicates that there is some doubt as to the reliability of the information immediately following. An entry, or part of an entry, marked ‘Unverified’ has not been traced. ‘Identification doubtful’ indicates that the bibliographic details of that work have been verified but the work is not guaranteed to be the source of the dictionary citation.

Citations taken from the Oxford English Dictionary are marked ‘OED’. Similarly, ‘Jam.’ denotes an entry taken from An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language by Jamieson, John, DD; 4 vols., Alexander Gardner, Paisley, 1879-82. The Supplement to Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary was edited by David Donaldson and published by Alexander Gardner, 1887.

Entries marked, chiefly at the end, with (DOST Lib.), (Transcr. DOST Lib.) or (Facsimile, DOST Lib.) indicate that the edition(s) listed or a whole or partial transcript, facsimile or manuscript was housed in the DOST Library during the compilation of the Dictionary. Full details will be found in the DOST Library catalogue. It is anticipated that this unique archive, the property of the six funding universities and the Joint Council for the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, will be kept intact. At time of going to press its future permanent location is not known.