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Lot 123
STORY (ROBERT) Series of some 40 autograph letters signed ("Robert Story"), to William Dickson, discussing publication of The Poetical Works of Robert Story, which the Duke of Northumberland was helping finance, Audit Office, Somerset House, 1856-1858
15 June 2016, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge£600 - £800
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STORY (ROBERT)
Series of some 40 autograph letters signed ("Robert Story"), to William Dickson, discussing publication of The Poetical Works of Robert Story, which the Duke of Northumberland was helping finance ("...His Grace's liberality, if I don't misunderstand you, is astounding! Would I were a Burns for his Sake!..."), covering topics such as the Duke's own ambitious plans for the volume ("...He has expressed a wish to have the Work printed in some peculiar and expensive type and he insists on paying the difference between that and the ordinary type..."), negotiations with the printers (Messrs Pigg of Newcastle), the number of and style of copies to be printed, costings, the prospectus, specimen sheets ("...His Grace...says it does honour to Messrs Pigg and Newcastle..."), the dedication ("...What think you of it? His Grace is, I think, a K.G. What else is he? Would you call him an Admiral?..."), the various bindings ("...I think a book may have a plain elegance which looks better than glitter. You must say how you would like your own. - Leaving out the Castle copies, I want about 200 for guinea Subscribers..."), advertising, etc.; with related letters to Dickson by the printers, Thomas and James Pigg (series), lists of subscribers, a prospectus, and a letter by Story's widow, Ellen, announcing his death in 1860, Story's letters upwards of 150 pages, 8vo, Audit Office, Somerset House, 1856-1858
Footnotes
Robert Story (1795-1860) was the son of a Northumbrian peasant who, like Clare, had worked as a gardener and then as a shepherd, with ambitions to emulate Burns by following the plough. His Poetical Works, published in 1857, with which the present series is concerned, was a lavishly produced affair: "The beauty of the volume seems to have disarmed the critics, for not only did Macaulay and Aytoun signify their approbation, but Carlyle in November 1857 detected in it 'a certain rustic vigour of life, breezy freshness, as of the Cheviot Hills'" (Thomas Seccombe, ODNB). His correspondent, William Dickson (1799-1878), was a solicitor, local historian, and founder of the Alnwick & County Bank.