Lot 99
![[Defoe, Daniel]](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/4c628cb6-7868-4f0c-8f17-79da2745989d/54269096-fd75-4b53-8433-a05f87a18707/0001_mjaxqM_original.jpg)
[Defoe, Daniel]
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 29 August 2012 at 12:00 BST
Description
Caledonia, &c., a poem in honour of Scotland and the Scots nation. Edinburgh: Heirs of Andrew Anderson, 1706. First edition, folio, [10], 60, red half morocco with the Earl of Perth's monogram on upper board
Footnote
Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire
Note: From 1706 to 1708 Defoe was employed by Harley as an emissary to Scotland and a secret agent, his task being to further the Union. Caledonia is a by-product of that mission, a political cause Defoe greatly believed in. "This laudatory poem in praise of Scotland past, present, and future, was written by Defoe in part to soothe the Scots, who in late 1706 were by no means unanimous for union... Defoe not only praised their past exploits, but flattered them with his attention to their economic possibilities, with or without union." -- McLeod, Anglo-Scottish Tracts: 1701-1714.