Lot 147
McGonagall, William Topaz (1825-1902)
[Two broadside poems:]
Auction: Other Properties | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255
Description
The Wreck of the Steamer ‘Stella’. A New Poem. [And:] Calamity in London. Family of Ten Burned to Death. [Edinburgh: for the author], c.1899 & 1898. Two printed broadsides (25 x 18.5cm and 26 x 20.2cm), The Wreck signed by the author ('Sir William Topaz McGonagall Poet') in black, each with the main text printed in two columns and title and royal coat of arms to head, both with old folds and faint pencil-markings, The Wreck with old rust-mark and shallow chip to head (2)
Footnote
Two rare broadside poems by the infamous Scottish poetaster. The Wreck of the Steamer ‘Stella’ describes the sinking of a passenger steamer off the coast of Guernsey. Calamity in London is McGonagall's response to the death of two families in a house-fire on Dixie Street in London's Bethnal Green, in which he contrives to rhyme ‘surprised’ with ‘carbonised'.