Samuel Halkett

Samuel Halkett (21 June 1814 – 20 April 1871) was a Scottish librarian, now known for his work on anonymous publications. He built part of the initial collection and produced the first catalogue of the Advocates Library in Edinburgh.

Biography He was born on 21 June 1814, in the North Back of the Canongate, Edinburgh, where his father was in business as a brewer.

Halkett died in April 1871, aged 57, leaving a widow (Caroline Sophia Roland, d. 1883) and four children. A report by Halkett on the state of the library in 1868 was appended to a memorandum signed by John Hill Burton on a proposed enlargement of the scope of the library (Edinburgh, 1868).

In 1856 Halkett wrote to Notes and Queries (2nd ser. i. 129) that he had been collecting materials for a dictionary of anonymous English works; on his death his materials were handed over to the Rev. John Laing, librarian of the New College, Edinburgh, who continued the work until his death in 1880. The book finally appeared, with additions, edited by Catherine Laing, as A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain (Edinburgh, 1882–8, 4 vols.). Halkett also contributed some articles to Chambers's Cyclopædia.