Scotland. An early 18th c commonplace book, n.d., inscribed ...

Hammer

£250

Scotland. An early 18th c commonplace book, n.d., inscribed with five distinct manuscripts in various hands, comprising 1) The Scot Litany, [3]pp, being a satire on both the Act of Union (1707) and the Church of England meeting the Presbyterian Church of Scotland; 2) You coman and pears [...], [2]pp of verse; 3) The new way ye lass of Pegges Mill (sic), [2]pp, a ballad of 4 stanzas; 4) The Laasst I came O'er the Muir, [2pp], a ballad of 5 stanzas; & 5) O where ha you been Lord Randal my son, [2]pp, a rendition of the Anglo-Scottish Border ballad, the remaining leaves blank, contemporary calf over boards, rubbed, worn and slightly chipped, lower-cover detached, oblong 4to

Collector's palaeographic MS. Note viz. its known provenance and contents to ffep, including: [...] The Contents [...] The first four appear to have been written in or soon after the year 1710, but the fifth seems to me be in a hand considerably later, although the ink is quite as much faded. This version of Lord Randal is not identical with any of those already known to me in print. Wm. Macmath, Edinburgh, 4th May 1880. 

Provenance: 1) Charles Mackie /19 Aug:t 1808, scratched ownership inscription inscribed to lower-cover; 2) Adam Smail, Bookseller, Edinburgh, bought by; 3) William Macmath FSA (Scot) (1844–1922), scholar and collector of Scottish ballads and manuscripts; his Note to ffep dated Edinburgh, 4th May 1880 - presumably contemporary to purchase, as well as his bookplate to recto pastedown, and ownership inscription to verso pastedown. 4) William Saunders / Hys Booke (sic), early-mid 20th c pictorial bookplate to ffep.