SCOTT, Sir Walter (1771-1832). Novelist & poet.
Fine Autograph Letter Signed to Allan Cunningham, 2 pages 4to (repairs to the folds, seal tear) with integral address-leaf, Edinburgh, 25 June 1813. Praising Cunningham's Scottish Songs, ordering six copies to be distributed 'among such friends as may be more able than myself to give your work the encourgement which it deserves', and asking for anonymity.

'... I regret truly to observe that they are published for the author, which I fear you will not find the most profitable mode of publishing. ...'

This was a difficult year for Scott, whose publishing business was slowly driving him to bankruptcy. He was in negotiation with Archibald Constable at the time of writing this letter and was, therefore, particularly sensitive to the problems of self-publishing. His precarious financial situation also made him wary of lending his backing to other authors.

'... I beg you will not mention this trifling subject to any one for there is nothing that I dread so much as being supposed to give myself the airs of literary patronage. My secluded life & limited fortune make it impossible for me to suppose such a character to advantage ... .'

Scott worried unnecessarily since the book was never published. A note on the Abbotsford copy of this letter states that it was sent in answer to the gift of a book of songs Cunningham had printed but never published ('some of my best verses were in it and some of my worst, for I had not then learnt the art of separating the chaff from the corn and I am not sure I have mastered the secret yet'). Cunningham must have gained something from this early attempt: his Songs, chiefly in the rural language of Scotland and his Songs of Scotland brought him considerable renown and success.
 The Abbotsford copy of this letter is published; See Letters of Sir Walter Scott vol 3, pages 291-2, ed. H J C Grierson, Centenary Edition, 1932.
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