The Society is gradually
bringing some of its older volumes which have long been out of print back into
circulation via a Print-On-Demand scheme. These are (unless otherwise
indicated) straightforward softback reprints of the original books, NOT new
or revised editions; sometimes, two volumes have been reprinted as one. They can
be ordered in the normal way, via the STS Treasurer,
Scottish
Text Society, C/O 25 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN, or e-mail:
treasurer@scottishtextsociety.org.
Note that, if the reprint you are looking for is a multi-volume edition, you
cannot buy single volumes, you will have to buy the full set.
If you have
suggestions as to which titles you would like to see reprinted in the future, do
let us know (this is probably easiest done by e-mail). The list of titles we
have already reprinted (below) is to a large extent based on what prospective
buyers tell us they would like to see reprinted.
Available so
far:
The Poems of Robert Fergusson,
ed. Matthew P. McDiarmid. Originally available in two volumes, the reprint binds
these into one volume
Barbour’s Bruce, eds. M.P. McDiarmid and J.A.C. Stevenson (3 vols)
Hary’s Wallace,
ed. M.P. McDiarmid (2 vols)
Satirical
Poems of the Time of the Reformation, ed. J. Cranstoun (2 vols),
The English
and Latin Poems of Sir Robert Ayton, ed. C. Gullans
Prices
Apart from the
Aytoun volume, all these are available for £30 + p&p for non-members, but
£20 + p&p for STS members. The Aytoun volume is £15 + p&p for
non-members; £10 + p&p for members.
Postage and packing for one copy:
Mainland Britain: First Class
£2.70,
Second Class £2.20.
Rest of Europe, airmail £3.70, surface mail £3.30.
Rest of the World: airmail £7, surface mail £3.30.
If you wish to place an order the price of which cannot be calculated from the above figures (e.g. when ordering multiple copies), contact us at the address below to let us know what you want, and we will invoice you. In all other cases, send appropriate payment (or ask for an invoice) + details of your postal address to which you want the book(s) delivered to the STS Treasurer at one of the addresses mentioned above.
* * * * * * * *
The Poems of Robert Fergusson ed. Matthew P. McDiarmid, 3rd series 21 and 24, now reprinted in one volume (2005). This is the only complete edition of Fergusson’s poems in print. It contains all his Scottish and all his English poems, along with extensive biographical and critical materials and notes. Fergusson is a major poet in a Scots literary tradition running from Dunbar, to Burns, and on to Hugh McDiarmid. He can be both lyrical and delicate, bawdy and satirical, sometimes within the same poem. The broadly chronological arrangement of this invaluable edition enables the reader to see that even towards the end of a life that ended in personal tragedy, Fergusson remained wonderfully irreverent. As in his splendid translation of Horace’s 11th ode, which commences, ‘Ne’er fash your tumb what gods decree/To be the weird o’ you and me’, and concludes ‘The day looks gash, toot aff your horn/Nor care yae strae about the morn’.
Barbour’s Bruce, eds. M.P. McDiarmid and J.A.C. Stevenson, 3 vols (4th series 12, 13 and 15), now reprinted in paperback. This is the standard edition of this great poem. The Bruce commemorates and celebrates the Scottish Wars of Independence of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries and the career of Robert the Bruce. He and his loyal supporter James Douglas embody the values of heroism and nationalism that are crucial to the survival of the country’s independence. John Barbour composed his poem c. 1375 in the opening years of the new Stewart dynasty and Bruce’s emergence as a model king is a crucial theme within his poem. Bruce’s famous speech at Bannockburn and James Douglas’s celebrated mission with the dead king’s heart to the Holy Land are just two of the memorable episodes in this dramatic and gloriously lucid poem. The introduction and notes situate the poem in its literary and cultural contexts and explain many of its historical and topographical references.
Hary’s Wallace, ed. M.P. McDiarmid, 2 vols (4th series 4 and 5), now reprinted in paperback. This is a full scholarly edition of Scotland’s majestic epic poem which was the ultimate source for Braveheart. The Wallace was composed in the 1470s by ‘Blind Hary’, who is revealed here as a rather more learned and literate figure than his customary image. Hary’s vivid, feisty, and unforgettable poem places William Wallace at the centre of events in the Wars of Independence of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Matthew McDiarmid’s edition accompanies its text with extensive notes and a lengthy introduction, designed to equip the reader with a fuller understanding of both the Wars and the fifteenth-century political context in which Hary was writing.
Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation is a seminal edition of poems both documentary and literary. It brings together polemical and propagandistic works circulating between 1565 and 1584, predominantly in broadsheet but also in manuscript. The material is usually critical, often satirical, sometimes witty, and sometimes brutal. The turbulent personal rule of Mary Queen of Scots, the murder of Darneley, and its aftermath feature strongly. Robert Sempill is the most dominant of the authors included, and this volume exemplifies the brilliance of his various poetic voices. This is essential reading for both literary scholars and historians.
The English and Latin Poems of Sir Robert Ayton, ed. Charles B. Gullans (4th series, 1). Sir Robert Ayton was Queen Anna's secretary at the English court of James VI and I , and was, on the face of it, the quintessential courtier. But his poetry articulates a wry resignation towards a way of court life utterly familiar and frequently vexing. It is an approach which descends from the writing of Dunbar, Lyndsay, and Montgomerie, and yet is also distinctively different from it. With the removal of the court to England Scottish courtly writing becomes more permeable to English influences, and Ayton's poetry has a Jonsonian or metaphysical given to it. This excellent edition collects and annotates Ayton's English and Latin poems, a number of letters by him, and provides a detailed life of the author.