£2,520
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs ft. the Library of the Late William St Clair Pt II | 712
Auction: 28 September 2022 at 11:00 BST
Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1859. Seemingly a final proof, with 3 autograph letters from the author probably all 3 to the publisher, Mr Douglas, (2 addressed Dear Sir, one referring to a conversation with Mr Edmonston, another about an edition of Aesop's Fables), with numerous authorial corrections, with 2 annotated proof pages of 'The Notice' and 1 proof page of another page loosely tipped in with the letters, page ix marked "For Press when the corrections and additions have been made, GWD, Dec. 10th", 2 autograph pages on blue paper of text to be inserted, with occasional passages scored through, numerous alterations, changes, additions and corrections, contemporary half morocco, lacks spine, covers detached
Note:
A fascinating insight into Dasent's writing methods and Victorian publishing history. The inserted manuscript leaves note "Nor let any pious Welchman be shocked if we venture to assert that Gellert that famous hound upon whose last resting place the traveller comes as he passes down the lovely vale of Gwywwant, is a mythical dog, and never snaffed the fresh breeze in the Forest of Snowdon, nor saved his master's child from ravening wolf. This too is a primeval story, told with many varieties. Sometimes the foe is a wolf, sometimes a bear, sometimes a snake. It too came from the East. It is found in Pilpays The Hitopadesa, in Pilpay's Fables, in the Arabic original of the Seven Wise masters - that famous collection of stories which illustrate a setup-dame's calumny, and in many medieval versions of those originals..."
Provenance: James Mair, book dealer and antiquarian collector in Fife; then to vendor.