Abstract
At the front of this volume are two designations of provenance. On the left is the bookplate of the Scottish poet, James Hogg (1770-1835). The harp image symbolises the Gaelic tradition of the musical recitation of poetry, and links to the appearance of a harp in Hogg’s epic poem, ‘The Queen’s Wake’ (1813). Although he did not play the harp, it fits with Hogg’s self-styled ‘bardic identity’. The Latin motto – Naturae Donum, meaning ‘Gift of Nature’ – signifies that his talent as a poet was raw, self-taught, and ‘rooted in the culture of his native Ettrick’. The inscription is to James Hogg Junior (b. 1821), Hogg’s first born, from the book’s editor, Mrs Anna Maria Hall (1800-81) with her ‘best respects’.
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