The Roy Manuscript of Burns’s ‘To John Syme’

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Abstract

Discusses and illustrates the unique autograph manuscript of Burns's 4-line epigram, or verse-note, to his Dumfries friend John Syme, written to accompany the gift to Syme of a dozen bottles of porter; collates the manuscript text against the first printed text and against Syme's own manuscript transcription, together with a variety of subsequent edited versions; and concludes with a brief discussion of 19th century Burns editing and of the status of Burns texts and textual variants found only in the Syme transcripts. r

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