The Advocates' Library is a law library belonging to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, founded in 1682.[1] Until 1925 it was the deposit library for Scotland, after which the role was taken on by the National Library of Scotland.
It went into decline after head librarian Samuel Halkett's death in June 1871. He was a member of the Early English Text Society and a friend to many compilers of the OED, notably Frederick Furnivall. His successor, Thomas Hill Jamieson, met a fire that destroyed much of the collections in the summer of 1875, and the exertions to which he pushed himself to rebuild the library killed him in 1876.
All the non-legal collections were gifted to the National Library. Today, it alone of the Scottish libraries still holds the privilege of receiving a copy of every law book entered at Stationers' Hall. The library forms part of the complex that includes Parliament House.