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Synopsis

Now first published. edited with an introduction by harold william thompson.

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 8.5 x 5.75 inches. xxxiv + 303 pp. + [1] pp. colophon. Bound in black cloth with printed paper title label on spine, in pictorial unclipped dust wrapper, which has small stains and chipped edges, including head and tail of spine. Board extremities s little damp stained with lower edge wear; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by 7 black and white plates, including portrait frontispiece and facsimile. The first printing of an unpublished manuscript by Henry Mackenzie of Edinburgh (1745-1831), Scottish lawyer and tax official, novelist and playwright. His most famous work was The Man of Feeling (1771), a sentimental study, influenced by Rousseau, of a weak but benevolent man, whose innocence is exploited by those around him. Mackenzie's first and most famous work, first published in 1771. The Anecdotes is a source for social life, manners and customs of Scotland and includes sections on Edinburgh, the Forty Five, the churchmen, professionals, literary figures and artist of the period, with a biographical index at the end. Research on Henry Mackenzie was carried out by the US academic, Harold William Mackenzie (1891-1964), who was professor of English at Cornell University, 1940-59. In addition to editing the Anecdotes, he published another study on Mackenzie, A Scottish Man of Letters (1931), but later his chief interest became that of US folklore, developing a pioneering fieldwork and outreach programme (Cornell e.Commons website).