Recent history

The Book of the Dean of Lismore (henceforward BDL) is an unpretentious paper MS which is fundamental to the appreciation of the Gaelic poetry of the Middle Ages in both Ireland and Scotland. It is owned by, and deposited in, the National Library of Scotland, with the shelf-mark 72.1.37.  The MS owes its survival partly to James Macpherson, who obtained it, along with eighteen other important Gaelic MSS, when collecting material for his Ossianic 'translations' in the Scottish Highlands in the autumn of 1760.  In spite of the unusual orthography of the MS, Macpherson could scarcely have been unaware of the substantial amount of 'Ossianic' material which it contained, and, at an early stage, he may even have considered that its entire contents were 'Ossianic'.  He may also have made limited use of some relevant items from it in his subsequent work.

The transmission of the MS before it reached Macpherson is by no means certain.  It seems likely that the principal intermediaries between the original sixteenth-century compilers and Macpherson were the Frasers, a clerical family active in the Diocese of the Isles in the first half of the seventeenth century.  In the eighteenth century, their chief representative was the Rev. Thomas Fraser of Boleskine, who was known to Macpherson.

In 1762 Macpherson deposited his MS collection with his publishers in the Strand, and by 1779 it had passed into the guardianship of John MacKenzie, a close friend of James Macpherson, and secretary of the Highland Society of London.  In the society's name, MacKenzie passed the MSS to the Highland Society of Scotland in January 1803.  The Scottish society was then investigating the authenticity of Macpherson's Ossianic translations, and its monumental report, published in 1805, contains the first detailed description of the MS, with facsimiles of certain pages, and with special reference to, and excerpts from, its 'Ossianic' material.  These contributions were made by Dr Donald Smith, a surgeon in the Breadalbane Fencibles and an eminent Gaelic scholar.  His brother, the Rev. Dr John Smith of Campbeltown, also assisted the society.

After the enquiry, BDL and the other MSS in the custody of the Highland Society of London were deposited in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, the non-legal holdings of which became the core of the National Library of Scotland.  The Highland Society of London retained ownership of the MSS until November 1980, when they were acquired by the National Library of Scotland.