Lot 198
Dundee
Collection of manuscripts by James Thomson of Dundee, mid-19th century
Estimate: £800 - £1,200
Auction: 19 September 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
all closely written in an italic hand, most works signed by James Thomson, a few (e.g. ‘The Houff’ and ‘The Last Literary Remains of Foo-Fozzle’) not signed but in the same hand, contents comprise:
‘The Last Literary Remains and Relics of the World-Renowned Foo-Foozle, D.D.D.D. and M.L. of Ching-Chang, and Mandarin of Ten Golden Buttons and Five Siler Tassel; in Joint Stock with those of the ever famous John Young, Late of Forebank, Esquire … Chang-Quang: Souchong, Printer. Young Hyson, Publisher. 14th Day, VIth Moon, Year 1845'. 4to, 206 pp., lined paper wrappers;
‘An Account of the Island of Icolmkill [Iona] as it was in the year 1771. A New Edition revised and corrected. J. Thomson, Scripsit’, Dundee, 15th June, 1852. 4to, green paper wrappers, 16 pp., old staining to rear;
‘Tour through Part of Perth and Fifeshires from Dundee by Ingergowrie, Foulis, Longforgan, Inchture, Dunsinane, Raitt, Errol, Abernethy, Abbey of Lindores and the Abbey of Balmerino to Newport in 1823. Also An Excursion from Dundee to Meigle in the same year … By James Thomson. Third Edition enlarged [sic]’, Dundee, 18232. 8vo, drab paper wrappers, 116 pp., ownership inscription of John Campbell dated Dundee 1837 to title-page;
‘Poems and Songs by Sigma. In Three Volumes, Volume First [ … Second … Third], 1828 [dated at rear]. 4to, contemporary half calf, 125, 43, 126 pp., inscribed on versos of title-page, ‘Dundee 21st July 1841, presented to Mr John Campbell by the author as a small mark of esteem after an acquaintanceship of sixteen years without a cross word occurring during that time to mar the friendship which endured in the course of these years, James Thomson’;
'Gildas Sapiens, de Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. Gildas the Wise, concerning the Subversion and Complaint of Britain; being the Historical Part or First Thirty-One Chapters of his Epistle, Modernised from the Translation made from the Original Latin, and published in 1638. With a New Introduction and Copious Notes. By James Thomson', Dundee, 15th July 1852. 8vo, marbled wrappers, 56 pp.;
‘The Houff: a Selection of the best Epitaphs and Inscriptions, Ancient and Modern, in the Houff or Common Burying Ground, Dundee … By Old Mortality, Junior’, Dundee, 1834. 4to, contemporary limp marbled boards, 150 pp., together with another copy with a slightly variant title, disbound;
‘Narrative of Occurrences in the Parish of Newtyle at the Beginning of the 18th Century, as Illustrative of the Mourners of Former Times. With an Appendix of Select Excerpts from the Parish Register of Auchterhouse. By a Gleaner’, Dundee, 1842. Folio, 22 pp., with a pen-and-ink sketch of Newtyle Castle signed J. Thomson to title-page;
‘The Parish Register or Book of the Session, with Notes and an Appendix of Additional Curious Collections. The whole intended as Authentic Illustrations of Former Times. By James Thomson' [no date]. 4to, contemporary half calf, 211 pp., ownership inscription ‘John Campbell, Crichton Street, Dundee’ to p. 1;
‘The Parish Register or Parochial Annals, Being Extracts from the Records of Various Parishes selected as Illustrations of Ancient Manners’, 1828. 4to, blue paper wrappers, 178 pp.;
‘Supplement to the History of Dundee by James Thomson’, Dundee, 1847. Oblong 8vo, plain paper wrappers, 162 ff., written on rectos only;
'The Book of ye comoun Rentallis of the Burgh of Dundie, Almishous and Kirkwark thairof, this maid … in the tyme of Mr James Haliburtoun, Provost … Extracted from the Locked Book of Burgesses by James Thomson', Dundee, 1838. 8vo, 59 pp., blue paper wrappers (front wrapper missing, front blank detaching), inscription in a separate hand (presumably the recipient's) ‘To Mr J. Campbell from J. Thomson the editor … 1841’ on p. [3];
‘Observations, Exclamations, and Narrations in Verse; being the Reveries, and Day-Dreams, of [symbols]. In six Cantos, by An Observer. Printed by _ And sold by all the Booksellers’. Dundee, 1825. 4to, plain paper wrappers, 40 pp..
Together with a further volume of manuscript notes by Thomson (containing transcripts of 18th-century court of session hearings), and a related printed work (A Feast of Literary Crumbs … By Foo Foozle and Friends, Ancient Citizens of Dundee … Dundee: William Kidd, c.1880, no. 1 in the ‘Dundee Reprints’ series, front wrapper captioned ‘facsimile of original cover’ and including imprint J. Valentine, Dundee, 1848') (15)
Footnote
The author of these manuscripts can be identified with that of the published work The History of Dundee (Dundee, 1847; 2nd edition 1874) on the basis of the introduction to the ‘Supplement of the History of Dundee by James Thomson’. A mixture of literary squibs, epic poetry in Byronic cantos, and thorough antiquarianism, they are presented in the style of printed books, with neatly arranged title-pages and in one case ('An Account of the Island of Icolmkill') mock printer's signature-marks to the lower margins. The National Library of Scotland holds a manuscript by James Thomson of Dundee titled `Gleanings of Antiquity in Forfarshire’ and dated 1825 (Adv.MS.35.6.17). Dundee Central Library holds a small collection of manuscripts by him, including ‘The Houff’ (1835), ‘The Book of the Houff' (1838), and ‘Tours through Parts of Forfar, Perth, and Fifeshires’ (1833). It is possible that parts of the ‘Supplement of the History of Dundee’ and ‘The Last Literary Remains … of Foo-Foozle’ appear in printed form in the 1874 edition of The History of Dundee and A Feast of Literary Crumbs (op. cit.) respectively, but it is unclear whether any of the works in the lot have ever been published in their entirety.
