[Inglis, James, Wedderburn, Robert, or Lindsay, David, variously attributed; Leyden, John, Ed.]

The Complaynt of Scotland. Written in 1548. With Preliminary Dissertation and Glossary [Bound with:] Leyden, John. Observations on the Complaynt of Scotland. [Edinburgh?: From the Scots Magazine, 1802]

Printed for Archibald Constable and sold by T. Cadell Junior, and W. Davies, London: Edinburgh, 1801. This facsimile edition of Complaynt was the first since its initial publication in Paris in 1550 (of which only 4 copies of the first edition are known to exist and are all in institutions). The NLS notes that its copy was used by Constable to produce the instant 1801 edition. Tracing “a Notoriously Difficult Title to Acquire”. Discover. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland (Winter 2010). In Scott’s The Antiquary, the antiquary states “for that mutilated copy of the Complaynt of Scotland, I sat out the drinking of two dozen bottles of strong ale with the late learned proprietor, who, in gratitude, bequeathed it to me in his last will.” Substantively, Complaynt is a patriotic call for Scots to rally against the Rough Wooing and English influence in Scotland, is one of the earliest examples of a fully Scots prose text, and contains some of the first written references to important ballads such as Tam Lin, Froggy Went a-Courting, and The Ballad of Chevy Chase.

Observations is an offprint from the Scots Magazine of July 1802, with different typesetting, pagination, and signatures than the magazine publication. It contains a brief response to a critical review of the 1801 edition of Complaynt, of which Leyden was editor. Observations is scarce with only one copy located on OCLC as of November 2021.

8vo. [8], [5]-292pp., [1], 384pp.; 8pp. Lowndes, pg. 1357. Morley, English Writers (1897, Vol. 8, pgs. 124-30). Very good in half red morocco, some edges uncut, top edge gilt, engraved armorial bookplate of Henry Drummond, contemporary engraving pasted to blank verso of titlepage, and occasional pencil notations (which a prior owner attributed to Alexander Boswell, though this is not confirmed). Item #262

Price: $275.00