Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his friend in London; Containing the Description of a Capital Town in that Northern Country, with an Account of some Uncommon Customs of the Inhabitants; Likewise An Account of the Highlands, with the Customs and Manners of the Highlanders. To Which is Added, A Letter Relating to the Military Ways among the Mountains, begun in the year 1726. The Fifth Edition, with Engravings, and a large Appendix, Containing Various Important Historical Documents, Hitherto Unpublished; with an Introduction and Notes, by the Editor, R. Jamieson, and The History of Donald the Hammerer. From an Authentic Account of the Family of Invernahyle; a MS. communicated by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. In Two Volumes.

  • [Burt, Edward]
  • London: Printed for Ogle, Duncan and Co. 1822
  • Todd & Bowden 127Ab.

£75

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SKU: 6927 Category: Tags: , ,

Description

2 vols., 8vo, pp.[iii]-lxxvi, 348; [iii]-xi, [i], 370, [2, ads] + frontispiece to each volume. Later half calf, marbled boards, spines divided by raised bands and black rules, red morocco labels, top edges gilt. A little scattered spotting, frontispieces damp-marked. A little rubbed, spines slightly sunned. Armorial bookplates of Henry Edmund Taylor to pastedowns.

Notes

A reissue, with cancel title-pages, of Rest Fenner's 1818 edition (this copy even retaining Fenner's advert leaf to rear) of Burt's letters, first published in 1754 although apparently written some decades earlier. The fifth edition incorporated some extra material, most notably Walter Scott's contribution of the History of Donald The Hammerer and the final appendix in the 2nd volume, annotated extracts of a 1747 report. Scott had drawn liberally from Burt's Letters for his own work and did not want his name linked in the title in this way; he successfully prevailed upon Fenner to suppress the first issue with his name on the title-page and substitute a new leaf. This reissue cleaves to the wording of the first Fenner title-page and so reintroduces Scott's credit; per Todd and Bowden 'after four years Scott once more was greatly disturbed that his name should appear, if only incidentally, and demanded, now to no avail, that this leaf (already in cancel state) should be cancelled again.'

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