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The Herald Scotland

Unknown poem by 'titanic figure' found in a box of junk

Inside they discovered a handwritten draft of Address to the Town-Council of Edinburgh, which is now expected to fetch £800-1,200 at the GWA Summer Two Day Fine Art & Antiques Auction on June 13 and 14. It runs only to the fourteenth line of the poem, with the other pages presumed lost. Read More: Ramsay transformed the role of the Scots language in Scottish Literature, introduced the term 'Doric', founded or co-founded the first subscription library in the British Isles, the first art school in Scotland and one of the country's first theatres, and was one of the first Romantic song collectors, as well as a key player in the Enlightenment. The first ever comprehensive scholarly edition of Ramsay's works, the six-volume Edinburgh Edition, published 2022-24, stated that there was no manuscript copy of the Address known to exist. Valuer Tommy Alexander said: "Prior to now, no manuscript copy of Allan Ramsay's Address to the Town-Council of Edinburgh was known to exist. A man holding up the poem by Allan Ramsay (Image: Supplied) "This significant literary historical discovery sheds new light on his compositional process, as in the seventh line of the poem we can see Ramsay revising his original word choice (unrecorded prior to now). Ramsay penned the Address as an appeal to the City Council, that they legislate against the pirating of his works. "This they duly did, decreeing that vendors of Ramsay's verse were to retain only one third of their profits, with the majority share payable to Ramsay. Of interest here is the format in which Ramsay presents his poem, that of a letter literally addressed to named members of the Council. It may be the case that it was the receipt of this very document that prompted their intervention. "Allan Ramsay was a titanic figure in the early Scottish Enlightenment. As a poet and playwright, as well as a collector of verse, he did much to crystalise the Scottish literary tradition. His influence can be strongly felt through the work of subsequent writers, among them Burns, Fergusson and Scott. "The manuscript was found in complete obscurity, bundled together with miscellaneous ephemera and unframed artworks, consigned from a local house clearance." Also up for auction at the two-day event is the painting Crucifiction by renowned Australian artist Roy De Maistre. The signed oil on canvas work once hung in Iona Abbey, having been bought by the community directly from the artist, and is expected to fetch over £10,000. Other items include a Chinese silk robe bought for a few pounds on Vinted, and a painting about Saint Mungo.