
SCOTLAND
/ SCOTS
A-C
D-F G-N
O-Z
A Popular &
THEN-Pioneering History
Gillies, John. The history of ancient Greece, its colonies and conquests; from the earliest accounts, till the division of the Macedonian empire in the east. Including the history of literature, philosophy, and the fine arts. Dublin: Burnet, Colles, Moncrieffe, et al., 1786. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 3 vols. I: xii, 596 pp.; 1 fold. map. II: [2], viii, 588 pp.; 1 fold. map. III: vii, [1], 540, [64 (index )] pp.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Dublin first edition, printed in the same year as the London first. With this work, Gillies (1747–1836) — later the Royal Historiographer of Scotland — became one of the earliest British classicists to examine Greek history from a political perspective, in this case Whiggish. The volumes are illustrated with two oversized, folding maps depicting Greece and its colonies.
ESTC N7592; Allibone 672; Brunet, II, 1599. On Gillies, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary calf, spines with nice gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; joints cracked or open, corners/edges rubbed, spine with tips chipped and leather cracked. Ex–social club library: old shelving labels at spine heads extending onto sides, 19th-century bookplates, call numbers on endpapers, title-pages pressure-stamped. Vols. I and III with front free endpaper lacking; vol. I map with short tear along one fold and slightly longer tear from inner margin, extending into image. Intermittent light spotting; a few leaves age-toned. Vol. II with a few small, early ink blotches. All volumes with typical offsetting to early and late leaves from binding's turn-ins. Indeed a set nicer to contemplate, outside and inside, than our description must suggest. (27644)
Twa'
More Ballads
Glasgow Peggy;
to which is added the favourite ballad of The drowned lovers.
Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [1840?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$95.00
Uncommon printing of these two Scots ballads (one happy and one
sad), with a woodcut title-page vignette of a well-dressed lady holding a flower
in her lap. "[No.] 74" is printed at the foot of the title.
NSTC 2P9592. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages slightly age-toned,
otherwise clean. (16785)
Gordon,
George Gordon, duke of.
Broadside.
Begins: “February 4th 1709. Unto the right honourable the Lords
of Council and Session, the petition of George Duke of Gordon...” [Edinburgh,
1709]. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.4"). [1] p.
$775.00

Broadside documenting a legal action over the rents of Aboyne,
involving the first Duke of Gordon, ancestor of Lord Byron.
Scarce:
No holdings were located by ESTC, RLIN, OCLC,
or NUC Pre-1956.
Creased with slight soiling along crease, edges slightly ragged,
otherwise in good condition; now in a Mylar folder. Tipped onto a blank leaf
bearing a watermark of 1826.
Great Britain. Laws, statutes, etc. 1702–14 (Anne). Copy of her Majesties commission to the justices of peace of Edinburgh shire, with the powers and instructions to the whole justices in North Britain. [Edinburgh, 1708]. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.4"). 4 pp.
$700.00

Commencing with a long list of addressees, this missive describes the duties and responsibilities of those who uphold the law in Edinburgh. Among the crimes which should be actively prosecuted are “Witchcrafts, Inchantments, magical Arts, Sorceries, Transgressions . . .”
ESTC describes only Scottish holdings of this item.
ESTC T200651. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; in a Mylar folder. Darkened, last page with a short closed tear and with light-colored staining partially obscuring a few letters.
Halyburton, Thomas, & John Wesley. An extract of the life and death of Mr. Thomas Haliburton...second edition. Bristol: Felix Farley, 1747. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). [8], 92 pp.
$1350.00
Second edition of John Wesley’s rendition of the life of the legendarily pious theologian Thomas Halyburton (sometimes given as Haliburton), son of a Scots nonconformist minister. Halyburton’s writings, all published posthumously, were promoted by Wesley, who provided the introduction for this volume and some editing of Halyburton’s autobiography.
ESTC N9604. Period-style calf by Grace Bindings (signed in blind at inner area of lower rear turn-in), framed and panelled in blind rolls with blind-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and with gilt-stamped floral decorations. Pages age-toned and paper embrittled, with a very few small edge nicks; title-page with a short tear from lower margin into lower inner corner, not touching text.
Clean, interesting.
Hardy, Thomas. The patriot. Addressed to the people, on the present state of affairs in Britain and in France. With observations on republican government, and discussions of the principles advanced in the writings of Thomas Paine. Edinburgh: J. Dickson, & London: G. Nicol, 1793. 8vo in 4s (19.5 cm, 7.7"). [4], 76 pp.
$450.00

First edition. This response to Paine’s Rights of Man is attributed to a Scottish clergyman (sometimes called Hardie) who taught church history at Edinburgh University — not to the radical politician of the same name who was charged with treason in 1794.
ESTC T102145; Sabin 59081. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label.margins; some leaves lightly foxed, with final page darkened.
“My
daddie looks sulky, my minnie looks sour,
They
frown upon Jamie because
he is poor”
Harry Bluff. Logie
O'Buchan. Within
a Mile of Edinburgh Town. / Oh! No, We Never Mention Her. / Oh, Say Not Womam's
[sic] Love is Bought. / Dearest Maid, My Heart Is Thine. / Meet Me in the Moonlight.
/ Tell Me Why Men Will Deceive Us. Glasgow:
Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1825?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$95.00
A woodcut vignette on the title-page shows a young man with one
arm raised, above “[No.] 37" printed at the foot of the title.
NSTC 2B38504. Removed from a nonce volume. A few traces
of very faint spots of foxing, else clean and fresh. (16824)
Hill, John. An account of the life and writings of Hugh Blair .... Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1808. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). 229, [1 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
First U.S. edition, following the Edinburgh first of 1807, of this laudatory biography written by a professor at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Blair, a Scottish preacher, critic, and rhetorician, is best remembered for his sermons (which were praised by Dr. Johnson) and his involvement in the Ossian debate, in which he defended the poems’ authenticity.
Provenance: The Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple; the Maryland Diocesan Library.
Shaw & Shoemaker 15224. Contemporary quarter cloth over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding moderately darkened and worn, cloth chipped over head of spine, spine showing shadow of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (as above); title-page additionally with early inked gift inscription in upper margin (this cut into by binder). Some light spotting and age-toning.

To
Amputate or Not?
Hooper, Robert. The surgeon's vade-mecum: containing the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of surgical diseases. Accompanied by the modern and approved methods of operating, select formulae of prescriptions, Latin and English, and a glossary of terms. Albany: Pub. & sold by E.F. Backus...; E. & E. Hosford, printers, © 1813. 12mo. xviii, 275, [1 (blank)] pp., [5] ff.
$300.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First American edition of a work not to be confused with the same author's Physician’s Vade-Mecum of which the first American edition also appeared in Albany (1809). From amputation to syphilis, to piles, exostosis, abscesses, tumors, deafness, gunshot wounds, burns, and so many other topics, Hooper (1773–1835) crammed a great deal into his handy go-with pocket volume. He was successful both as a physician and as a medical writer, and although the Royal College of Physicians prevented his obtaining a D.M. at Oxford, he was successful in obtaining an M.D. from St. Andrews. The DNB says of him that as a writer he was “most industrious,” noting that “his books had a large sale.”
At rear are “Select Formulae of Prescriptions, Latin & English, and a Glossary of Terms.”
Provenance: Early 19th-century signature on title-page of “John Stevens, No. 6" at top of title-page.
Shaw & Shoemaker 28770. On Hooper, see the DNB, XXVII, 306–307. Publisher's acid-stained sheep with red leather spine label, modest gilt ruling on spine; leather joints and worn corners repaired with toned tissue. Occasional foxing only. In all, a nice copy of a volume that was a must for American doctors at the beginning of the 19th century. (29572)

“Investigating
Our Scottish Dialect”
James V, King of Scotland; Callander, John, ed. Two ancient Scottish poems; The Gaberlunzie-man, and Christ's kirk on the green. Edinburgh: Pr. by J. Robertson, 1782. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [2], 179 (i.e., 193), [1] pp. (1 prelim. f. lacking).
$250.00
Click either image for an enlargement.
First edition. Attributed by Callander to James V of Scotland, these two poems here appear with extensive annotations and footnotes, including a great deal of speculative etymology. The editor, a lawyer, served as Secretary for Foreign Correspondence of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, and a review quoted by Allibone cites his “uncommon erudition as a philologist.”
ESTC notes that one institution reports a frontispiece, but most other listings cite a preliminary leaf (not present here) rather than a plate.
No, this does NOT photograph well! but it is very interesting in the hand, under the eye.
ESTC T146717; Allibone 328. 19th-century half morocco and pebbled cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; rubbed and sides sunned. Front pastedown with private collector's bookplate. Lacking one preliminary leaf; title-page partially separated, with faint pencilled annotation beneath author's name. Occasional light spotting, confined to inner and outer margins; one early inked annotation in the addenda to the first poem. (24880)
Jamieson, Robert. Popular ballads and songs, from tradition, manuscripts, and scarce editions; with translations of similar pieces from the ancient Danish language, and a few originals by the editor. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co. (pr. by J. Ballantyne & Co.), 1806. 8vo (22.2 cm, 8.75"). I: [6], ii, xix, [1], 352 pp. II: [4], iii, [1], 409, [5] pp.
$375.00
Single-click either image for an enlargement.
First edition of these two volumes of collected ballads, mostly of Scots origin but some, as the title notes, translated from Danish. There are several uncommon Robin Hood fragments present, as well as a few original efforts by the editor.

Provenance: Hoe copy, with morocco “Ex libris Robert Hoe” bookplates on both front
pastedowns.
Binding: 19th-century gold calf with covers framed in double gilt fillets, turn-ins gilt-stamped, marbled endpapers. Spines gilt-tooled and with gilt-stamped title and volume labels. All page edges gilt.
NSTC J236. Leather showing moderate acid-spotting, with some cracking over the spine (one label repaired). One leaf with short tear from bottom edge; pages with a very few scattered spots of foxing only.
A very handsome set.

First Edition — Uncut Copy
Jones,
John Paul. Life and correspondence of John Paul Jones, including
his narrative of the campaign of the Liman. New York: Stereotyped by A. Chandler
[pr. by D. Fanshaw], 1830. 8vo (25.7 cm, 9.9"). Frontis., 8, [13]–555,
[1] pp.
$150.00
First edition: Biography of the
Scottish-born
Commodore John Paul Jones, perhaps best known for his command
of the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard against the British frigate Serapis
when, his ship sinking and in flames, he refused to surrender saying, “I
have not yet begun to fight!” This volume, which opens with a steel-engraved
portrait of Jones done by J.W. Paradise, is based on “original letters
and manuscripts in the possession of Miss Janette Taylor,” Jones's niece.
Click
the images for enlargements.
This is an uncut copy; uncut,
however, though it may have been, this was carefully opened.
It
was read cover to cover!
American Imprints 2078; Howes S91; Sabin 36551.
Publisher's quarter brown cloth and light blue paper–covered sides,
spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and moderately stained, with
front hinge (inside) reinforced some time ago. Ex–social club library:
19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, frontispiece, title-page,
and last page rubber-stamped. Inside the occasional spot or blot; page edges
uncut. (27106)
Kames,
Henry Home, Lord. Sketches
of the history of man. Edinburgh: W. Creech, W. Strahan, & T. Cadell,
1774. 4to (27.5 cm, 10.9"). 2 vols. I: xii, 519, [1 (blank)] pp. II: [4], 507,
[1 (blank)] pp.
$4250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this eclectic examination of the history of civilization and humanity (including a chapter on the development of the “American Nations”), in which Lord Kames speculates on the origin of races, provides an account of the progress of morality, and offers arguments against the practicality of polygamy; the appendix focuses more specifically on Scottish legal and economic issues near and dear to the heart of the author, a prominent Scottish judge and gentleman farmer as well as an influential figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. Other topics addressed: Taxes, patriotism, Aristotelian logic, and women.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate “De la bibliotheque de F. Freudenreich.”
ESTC T48434; Alston, III, 308; Goldsmiths’-Kress 11089; Sabin 32702. Contemporary speckled calf, neatly rebacked preserving original gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, spines with gilt-stamped thistle decorations; edges and corners rubbed, sides showing small scrapes and discolorations. Residue on pastedowns from sometime removal of bookplates. Pages age-toned, with occasional small spots, and offsetting from binding to in margins of first and last few leaves. All edges speckled.
A Lonely Lass Was Kate Dalrymple,
A Thrifty Queen Was Kate Dalrymple . . .
A Wiggle in Her Walk Had Kate Dalrymple,
A Sneevle in Her Talk Had Kate Dalrymple . . .
Kate Dalrymple, and the flowers of the forest. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1830?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$75.00


The title-page adds the following: "Loud Roared the Dreadful Thunder. / The Bonny Blue Bonnet. / This Is No My Plaid. / Ye Banks and Braes." The woodcut title vignette shows a young woman riding on a donkey with her feet in a large basket. "[No.] 30" printed at foot of title. The lower halves of the title & the last leaf are detached, else very good. Very scarce. RLIN locates only one copy.
This ed. not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned, else clean. (16762)

THE ONE, THE
ONLY COPY ON VELLUM
Lawson, John Parker. The book of Perth: An illustration of the moral and ecclesiastical state of Scotland before and after the Reformation. Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, 1847. 8vo (22.5 cm; 9"). [1(blank)] f., xl pp., 318 pp., [2 (ads, blank)] ff., 4 plts. (incl. frontis.).
$1500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Lawson's substantial history of the church in Perth, Scotland, was printed in an edition of 251 copies: 240 on “common paper,” 10 on “thick drawing paper,” and
this single copy on vellum (not vellum paper, not Japan vellum).
The title-page is printed in black and red, the text in black only, with one headline in red. The actual printing was accomplished by Robert Hardie and Company, Edinburgh, and is of a high quality, with a scattering of typographic head- and tailpieces and decorative initials.
The frontispiece, a view of “Perth before the Reformation – engraved for Thomas G. Stevenson's Book of Perth,” bears the attribution, “S. Leith, Lithog.” The plates represent the seals of ecclesiastical orders, and the pre-Reformation seal of the City of Perth.
Bound in 20th-century half brown morocco with tan cloth sides; spine with raised bands, one compartment with gilt title and others with gilt center ornaments; multicolored head- and tailbands. Displaying the typical rippling or cockling that vellum is prone to, and in parts showing a bit more of it due apparently to onetime old water exposure (though with little discoloration from that), this was later vulnerable to the entry of soot into its text block, most margins and many printed portions having been affected.
A remarkable, still remarkably impressive production; and, given what it apparently has experienced via more than one misadventure, a truly remarkable survivor. (25671)

POEMS
by the Influential
“Monk” of GOTHIC Literature
Lewis, Matthew Gregory (“Monk Lewis”). Tales of wonder...the second edition. London: Pr. by W. Bulmer & Co. for J. Bell, 1801. 8vo (18 cm, 7.1"). [4], 251 (pp. 138–39 numbered 134–35), [1 (adv.)] pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Poems by the influential “Monk” of Gothic literature. Second edition of these poems of the fey and supernatural, some written by Lewis and some reworked by him (sources including Sir Walter Scott, George Colman, and John Leyden); most works are supplied with morals (“. . . vain are now her prayers and cries, / Who cared not for her father's tears, / Who felt not for her father's sighs!” [p. 8]).
This author enjoyed great success among feminine (and young) audiences with his gothic tales of horror and woe, most notably with his one novel, The Monk, a youthful production that earned him his nickname. Shelley was especially fond of Lewis's work, although Byron mocked the author's “gibb'ring spectres” and “infernal brain” in the poem “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.”
NCBEL, III, 743 (first ed.). Later 19th-century half sheep in imitation of morocco over marbled paper sides, worn and abraded; leather chipping over head of spine, covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Title-page and several others stamped; endpaper and final blank separated but present (former with date slip); many pages, not unexpectedly, show light to moderate spots of foxing, and there is some staining. Last leaf torn across outer corner taking top author's name in ads on verso (it was John Beckmann) and most of three words of the last poem's last verse (“herte should breke”). (5414)

A Book Lover's Tour of
England, Scotland, & Wales
Lewis, Roy Harley. The book browser's guide: Britain's secondhand and antiquarian bookshops. Newton Abbot & North Pomfret, VT: David & Charles, © 1975. 8vo. 184 pp.; illus.
$40.00
At this point — nostalgia!
Publisher's cream-colored boards in original dust wrapper, cream-colored portions of jacket slightly darkened, otherwise showing only minimal shelfwear. A clean, solid copy. (30365)
Blithesome Sally / My Julia / Bonny Lassie / My Jamie / My Johnnie, O
Lilies of the valley. To which are added, Hills of Gallowa. The birks o' Aberfeldy. The banks o' Clyde. How sweet the rose blaws. Stirling: W. Macnie, 1825. 12mo. 8 pp.
$85.00
Woodcut title-page vignette of a hen with four chicks.
NSTC 2L15512. Removed from a nonce volume. The upper edge of the title is closely cropped, just touching tops of letters; page edges a bit darkened. (16827)
Not All Humor
“Wears” Real Well . . .
Lochore, Robert. Margaret and the minister, a true tale. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [1840?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$95.00


Illustrated Theatre Edition
Maclaren, Ian (John Watson). Beside the bonnie brier bush. New York: R.F. Fenno & Co., 1905. 8vo. Frontis., 258 pp.; 5 plts.
$85.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The earliest and best-known of all the tales of rural Scottish life published by “Ian Maclaren,” pseudonym of the popular author and preacher John Watson. This special illustrated theatre edition of the Rev. Watson's beloved work (originally published in 1894) features a photographic frontispiece of James H. Stoddart in the role of Lachlan Campbell, as well as five other scenes both comic and tragic. The final section of the volume is “A Doctor of the Old School,” a loving portrayal of stalwart practitioner Dr. William MacLure.
Binding: Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with double iris design stamped in green, white, and violet.
Binding as above, minimal rubbing only. Pages and plates clean. A beautiful copy. (28613)

Scottish Philosophy w/
Celtic Knotwork Gracing the Binding
Maclaren, Ian, (i.e., John Watson). Our neighbours. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1903. 12mo. [8], 341, [1] pp.
$65.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition: Warmly human observations on various character types, including musings on the boundless energy of the American, the argumentativeness of the Scot, and the essential boyishness of the young boy. Ian Maclaren was the oft-used pseudonym of the Rev. John Watson, a popular Scottish author and preacher; several of the pieces here include commentary on Scottish religious practices.
Signed binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; Celtic knotwork-inspired medallion decoration stamped on cover and spine in gray and maroon. Front cover with “F” monogram (Charles Buckles Falls?).
Binding as above, minimal wear only to extremities, head of spine with very minor spot of darkening. Front free endpaper with gift inscription dated Christmas, 1904. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text. A few signatures opened slightly unevenly; pages clean. (28593)
A Temperance Tale
Macneill, Hector. The history of Will and Jean: Or, the sad effects of drunkenness. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [1840?]. 12mo. 24 pp.
$125.00
Attributed to Hector Macneill, this verse tale recounts how Will, seduced by a brightly painted sign announcing “Porter, Ale and British Spirits,” takes to drink and eventually drives his wife Jean to the bottle as well. After a long separation, in which Will goes to war in France and comes back with a wooden leg, man and wife reform and are reunited. The title-page woodcut vignette shows a soldier in kilt, cap and sporran leaning on a rifle by a tombstone. “[No.] 36” is printed at the foot of the title.
NSTC 2W21326. Removed from a nonce volume. Slightly age-toned, with very faint staining to one leaf. (24437)

Children's Guide to Worthy Lives: Victorianly Appealing
Matéaux, Clara L. Brave lives and noble. London, Paris, & New York: Cassell & Co., 1883. 8vo (24.7 cm, 9.75"”). Frontis., viii, 320 pp.; illus.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Biographies of upstanding international historical figures, aimed at juvenile audiences and heavily illustrated with both full-page and in-text steel engravings by various hands. Written with much emotion and imagination by an author known for her edifying children's works, these 50 lives include accounts of Joan of Arc, William Penn, Robert Clive, Mary Stuart, John Brown, Grace Darling, Abraham Lincoln, and others known for their heroism or virtue. The text was later published under the title Noble Lives and Brave Deeds, with
WorldCat locating only three U.S. institutional holdings
of this first appearance.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover decorated with black-stamped oak branch motif, gilt-stamped title, and gilt-stamped vignette of a rescuer saving a drowning boy, spine gilt- and black-stamped, back cover blind-stamped.
NSTC 0497352. Binding as above; spine slightly darkened, edges and extremities lightly rubbed, paper cracking at front hinge (inside). Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. A very few scattered small spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean.
Educational and pretty. (30648)

The More Things Change . . .
( . . . The More They Stay the Same). Report of the speeches delivered at the public meeting of the inhabitants of Edinburgh opposed to the government scheme of education, held in the Music Hall, on Wednesday evening the 31st March 1847. Edinburgh: Grant & Taylor, 1847. 8vo. 34 pp.
$90.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Uncommon: Speeches objecting to “Government interference in the matter of education,” by Edward Baines, Jr., Bailie Duncan, the Rev. Andrew Thomson, the Rev. J.R. Campbell, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, Duncan McLaren, etc.
NSTC 2E4287. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner. (17041)
OVER
100 items of Scottish interest NOT IN
THIS ILLUSTRATED WEB CATALOGUE
are offered via this
unillustrated, PDF-format,
printable list click
here.
PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | PRB&M HOME