Poetical Remains of James the First, King of Scotland
( James I OF SCOTLAND ) JAMES I
[Edited by William Tytler].
FIRST PUBLICATION OF 'THE KINGIS QUAIR'
Published: J. and E. Balfour Edinburgh, 1783
Stock code: 8557
Price: £396.00
8vo., First Edition, on laid paper, neat contemporary initials on front free endpaper verso; handsomely bound in mid-nineteenth century half calf, marbled boards with double gilt rules at back and corners, back ruled in gilt to form six compartments, second compartment with leather label ruled and lettered in gilt, all other compartments ruled and tooled in gilt to a floral spray pattern, speckled edges, expertly rebacked with old backstrip laid down, a remarkably bright, crisp, clean and most attractive copy.
With the errata leaf following Contents as is proper, and the fine nineteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate of William Henderson and later nineteenth-century trade ticket of W&B Norton of Cheltenham on front paste-down. Bright, crisp copy of the first collected edition of the poetry of James I (1394-1437) which includes THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF 'THE KINGIS QUAIR'. Usually ascribed to the year 1423, James I's masterpiece 'The Kingis Quair' is a vivid love-dream allegory composed in Early Scots and marks the outset of the golden age of Scottish literature. Often referred to as the first 'Scottish Chaucerian' poem, it acknowledges the influence of the author of 'Canterbury Tales'. The work is transcribed from the only known MS (Bodleian Arch. Selden, B.24, foll.192-211) which itself is dated to 1488 or shortly after.The volume also contains the poem Christ's Kirk of the Green, [the editor's] Dissertation on the Life and Writings of King James I, and the Dissertation on Scottish Music. The editor, William Tytler, was the father of Lord Woodhouslee. SCARCE. NCBEL I, p.256.