Abstract
Describes and illustrates the only known manuscript of Robert Burns's short 'Poetical Inscription for an Altar to Independence'; notes ongoing disputes over the authenticity of several other of Burns's political poems from the 1790s; traces the manuscript's provenance from the Kern sale in 1929 (when it was cataloged as genuine) to Sotheby's in 1982 (when it was cataloged as a forgery), to its current location in the J.M.Shaw Collection, Florida State University Libraries, where more recent internal records catalogue it as authentic; points out evidence confirming its authenticity; and provides the first collation of the manuscript against the text published by James Currie in 1800.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Patrick and Carruthers, Gerard
(2022)
"Burns and the Altar of Independence: A Question of Authentication,"
Studies in Scottish Literature:
Vol. 48:
Iss.
2, 199–206.
DOI: 10.51221/suc.ssl.2023.48.2.15
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol48/iss2/16