Lot 361
Watson, James
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 29 August 2012 at 12:00 BST
Description
A choise collection of comic and serious Scots poems, both ancient and modern. Edinburgh: James Watson, 1713-1709-1711. 3 volumes in 1. Second edition of volume 1, First edition of volumes 2-3, 8vo., blue morocco, g.e., with the signature of John Jamieson, the Scottish lexicographer and editor on the title of the first part, bookplates of Theodore Napier and John Fairley
Footnote
Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire
Note: One of the most important books in the development of Scottish poetry; its publication marks the beginning of the revival in Scots vernacular poetry, the course of which can be followed in the eighteenth century through Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns. It encouraged Ramsay to publish his two collections, The Tea Table Miscellany, and the Ever Green, which, along with this collection, was Burns's main source for the older Scottish poets. At the end of the third part it states "The end of the First Volume" but nothing further was published. A fine copy.