"Facts Are Chiels": Some New (?) Facts (?) About Robert Burns, Patrick Scott
Jan 2019
"Facts Are Chiels": Some New (?) Facts (?) About Robert Burns, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
A talk on an invited topic sponsored by the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, University of Glasgow, and held at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, on January 12, 2019. Among topics discussed are variant texts of the song "Yestreen I had a pint o wine" [The gowden Locks of Anna], and the date, background and manuscript sources for "Fragment: Esopus to Maria." The talk is not fully referenced, and only selected powerpoint slides are included, but fuller references will be provided if and when topics are written up for formal publication. A section of the talk about the long-lost …
The Early History Of "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime"
Nov 2018
The Early History Of "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime"
Patrick Scott
Discusses varying editorial opinions on the origin and authorship of the radical song, "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime," first included in a Burns edition in the 1830s, and undertakes textual comparison between a number of versions of the song printed in the mid-1790s and later, in London, Belfast, and Newcastle, to suggest the ways in which such songs might be adapted and modified to fit changing political circumstances. Current version an unedited prepublication text, not in final form or with pagination.
The Kilmarnock Census: An Update, Patrick Scott, Allan Young
Nov 2018
The Kilmarnock Census: An Update, Patrick Scott, Allan Young
Patrick Scott
Records and describes two further copies of Burns's first book, noted since publication of The Kilmarnock Burns: A Census (2017), one at Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and one in the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Lexington, MA, bringing the current total of located extant copies to 86.
Burns And The Edinburgh Gazetteer: A New Resource, Patrick Scott
Nov 2018
Burns And The Edinburgh Gazetteer: A New Resource, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
A description of the recent digital edition of the Edinburgh Gazetteer (1792-1794), edited by Rhona Brown of the University of Glasgow, and a brief account of Burns's contact with its editor, William Johnston, the contributions to it by Burns and his neighbour Robert Riddell, government hostility to its publication, and the value of the digital version for Burnsians exploring the Scottish political climate of the 1790s.
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume, Patrick Scott
Oct 2018
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
This volume in the long-established Dictionary of Literary Biography series collects primary source materials on Burns’s life, reading, and writing; contemporary descriptions of the places he lived; reviews and selected poetic responses; obituaries; and contextual material on such topics as Ayrshire agriculture, the duties of an excise officer, song-editing, and 1790’s radicalism. Along with over 300 documents and extracts, the book includes 34 manuscript facsimiles, 45 sidebars on special topics, 10 maps, and over 100 supporting illustrations. The link here is to the preface only, describing the book in more detail; the book itself is available in print, as an …
Selected Essays On Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick Scott, Elizabeth A. Sudduth, Jo Durant
Mar 2018
Selected Essays On Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick Scott, Elizabeth A. Sudduth, Jo Durant
Patrick Scott
This book collects essays and talks about Robert Burns by the Burns scholar G. Ross Roy (1924-2013). Along with introductions to such well-known Burns poems as "Tam o' Shanter" and "Auld Lang Syne," it includes essays discussing Burns's attitudes to the French Revolution, politics, and religion, his love-letters to Clarinda, The Merry Muses of Caledonia, poems written about Burns, and the editing of Burns's works. The volume opens with some autobiographical reflections about reading and working on Burns that Ross Roy recorded shortly before his death, and it concludes with an illustrated interview about his six decades as a …
A Neglected Source For Burns Manuscripts? Some Old Guides For Autograph Collectors
Nov 2017
A Neglected Source For Burns Manuscripts? Some Old Guides For Autograph Collectors
Patrick Scott
Discusses the continuing value of older, prephotographic, facsimiles of Burns's manuscripts, and illustrates a variety of examples of Burns's handwriting from Victorian guide for autograph collectors, and the evidence they can provide to Burns editors. .
The Text Of Robert Burns's 'What Ails Ye Now': An Early Holograph Manuscript From The Roy Collection
Nov 2017
The Text Of Robert Burns's 'What Ails Ye Now': An Early Holograph Manuscript From The Roy Collection
Patrick Scott
Discusses different 19th century claims about whether Burns wrote the poem "What ails ye now" (Kinsley 119B, also known as "Robert Burns's Answer," "A Letter to a Taylor," "Reply to a Trimming Epistle from a Tailor," and "Answer to a Trimming Epistle"), which was not published in Burn's lifetime, and for which no manuscript in Burns's hand is known; describes and illustrates, a contemporary or near-contemporary manuscript in another hand that has numerous variants from the early printed text; and examines the possible relationship between the two texts and their implications for the authorship debate.
The Kilmarnock Burns And Book History, Patrick Scott
Nov 2017
The Kilmarnock Burns And Book History, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
Based on the recent census of the surviving copies of Robert Burns's first book, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock, 1786) (Young and Scott, 2017), discusses and illustrates the different forms in which it has been preserved, contrasting the original wrappers with later fine bindings, but also illustrating several contemporary bindings with which the original owners replaced the temporary wrappers, suggesting that these give a better indication of the social range of Burns's first readers.
"Fragments That Remain: 'A Verse By Burns,' The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club, And David Sillar's Manuscript Rules", Patrick G. Scott
Nov 2016
"Fragments That Remain: 'A Verse By Burns,' The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club, And David Sillar's Manuscript Rules", Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
Identifies two surviving fragments of David Sillar's manuscript rules for the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club, transcribes the two fragments of verse associated with them (one in Robert Burns's handwriting), and examines the evidence for Burns's authorship of one of these verse fragments.
A Burns Puzzle Solved: Davidson Cook And The 'English' Original For 'It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonie Face' (Smm 333), Patrick G. Scott
Jan 2016
A Burns Puzzle Solved: Davidson Cook And The 'English' Original For 'It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonie Face' (Smm 333), Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
Identifies Burns's "English" source that he put into "Scots dress'"for the song 'It is na, Jean, thy bonie face." first published in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, IV (1792); reviews the evidence that Burns had read the source identified, in Juvenile Poems (1789), by John Armstrong (1771-1797), then a student at Edinburgh University; and explores why Davidson Cook's previous record of this identification, in 1918, has been lost to subsequent Burns scholarship. [in the original article, which was linked at http://burnsc21.glasgow.ac.uk/guest-blog-by-professor-patrick-scott-a-burns-puzzle-solved-davidson-cook-and-the-english-original-for-it-is-na-jean-thy-bonie-face-smm-333/, a brief afterword by Murray Pittock put the (re)discovery in the context of other current work on Burns …
Looking Again At James Currie’S Inventory: The Other Side Of Robert Burns’S Correspondence, Patrick Scott, Jo Durant
Dec 2014
Looking Again At James Currie’S Inventory: The Other Side Of Robert Burns’S Correspondence, Patrick Scott, Jo Durant
Patrick Scott
This article provides an overview of one of the major manuscript sources on Burns’s life, the inventory of letters addressed to Robert Burns made for his first editor Dr. James Currie, and reports a number of discoveries made about inventory entries during editorial work for a preliminary edition of the letters to Burns. Based on an illustrated talk recorded for a recent Project Symposium in late October at the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies.
"Robert Burns, Open Access, And The Digital Studies In Scottish Literature", Patrick G. Scott
Mar 2014
"Robert Burns, Open Access, And The Digital Studies In Scottish Literature", Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
Describes the representation of the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) over the past fifty years in the journal Studies in Scottish Literature and analyzes reports on usage of the journal's recent free searchable digital version from the University of South Carolina institutional repository Scholar Commons to chart the changing international audience for Scottish literary studies and changes in how researchers discover journal articles. Concludes with brief comments on the editors' decision to make the journal open access, especially in light of recent policy proposals from United Kingdom research funding bodies.
Robert Burns, James Johnson, And The Manuscript Of "The German Lairdie", Patrick G. Scott
Sep 2013
Robert Burns, James Johnson, And The Manuscript Of "The German Lairdie", Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
Reports, illustrates, and assesses a fragment of manuscript music now in the G. Ross Roy Collection at the University of South Carolina, for Burns's song "The German Lairdie," headed in Burns's hand, and possibly with the music in his hand also. A note with the fragment, which was exhibited as Burns's autograph in 1896, states that it had been sent by Burns to the Edinburgh editor and publisher James Johnson, for inclusion in his Scots Musical Museum.
Publications By G. Ross Roy, A Checklist, 1953-2011, Patrick G. Scott, Justin Mellette
Jul 2013
Publications By G. Ross Roy, A Checklist, 1953-2011, Patrick G. Scott, Justin Mellette
Patrick Scott
This checklist details books and other separate publications, articles, and reviews, published through December 2011 by the Burns scholar G. Ross Roy (1924-2013), longtime professor of English at the University of South Carolina. The list encompasses his work not only on Burns and Scottish poetry, but in Canadian literature, comparative literature, and book history.
"The Poets Welcome": An Unrecorded Manuscript By Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick G. Scott
Oct 2012
"The Poets Welcome": An Unrecorded Manuscript By Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
Introduces, reproduces, and gives provenance for a previously-unrecorded autograph manuscript of Robert Burns's poem about the birth of his first-born child, and his mixed emotions of pride and some shame at her illegitimacy.
An Unrecorded Early Printing Of Robert Burns's Patriarch Letter, Patrick G. Scott
Oct 2012
An Unrecorded Early Printing Of Robert Burns's Patriarch Letter, Patrick G. Scott
Patrick Scott
No abstract provided.
Original Sources And Modern Sources On Burns's Songs, Patrick Scott
Feb 2012
Original Sources And Modern Sources On Burns's Songs, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
A brief discussion of the two major early sources for Burns's songs, Johnson's Scots Musical Museum and Thomson's Select Collection, the sources for Burns's own comments about the songs, and very brief information about the modern scholarly editions that are generally available. Written by request in response to a question from the floor at a talk about the Serge Hovey Archive.
Review Of Edinburgh History Of The Book In Scotland, Vol. 2, Patrick Scott
Dec 2011
Review Of Edinburgh History Of The Book In Scotland, Vol. 2, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
--a review focusing on sections relevant to Robert Burns of Stephen Brown and Warren McDougall, eds., The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, volume 2; Enlightenment and Expansion, 1707-1800 (Edinburgh University Press, 2012).
