James Hogg autograph letter signed to John [Ballantyne], Altrive Lake, 1816 Dec. 8.

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James Hogg autograph letter signed to John [Ballantyne], Altrive Lake, 1816 Dec. 8.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/754865319

Hogg discusses his work on Cottage Winter Evenings (later published as Winter Evening Tales), the Poetic Mirror and Dramatic Tales. He is anxious to sell his works to publishers: "I could give you a large octavo volume of Tragedies . . . or two small volumes the size of the Mirror . . . Think of all these things and write me as soon as you can - I never ask anything for a first edition save one half of the clear profits, for a second we should bargain as things appear. But as I am always extremely pinched for money though no earthly motive could induce me to part with the copyright of any of my poetry yet if you could procure me an offer from Longman or any respectable associate in the trade for a copyright of my three vols of Scottish Tales I would give you it for almost anything you liked, it being a thing by itself and unconnected with anything else of my production. Yours very sincerely, James Hogg." At one point Hogg notes that he likes the idea of his works appearing anonymously and somewhat later comments "I fear instead of being by the author of 'The Mirror' they must be simply by James Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd." It was about this time that Hogg was beginning to be known as the Ettrick Shepherd.

Two pages on a single 9 x 14 inch sheet folded to make 4 pages, with the address on one page. Approximately 400 words.

Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8131451

Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Related Entities

There are 3 Entities related to this resource.

Hughes, Gillian

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64v41k7 (person)

Hogg, James, 1770-1835

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6668b72 (person)

James Hogg was born in Ettrick, Selkshire, Scotland in November 1770. Having received little formal education, Hogg taught himself to read and write in his late teens. He continued to work as a labourer and shepherd for twenty five years. Between 1794-1810 Hogg wrote songs which appeared in magazines and in two small collections. Determined to make a career as a professional writer, Hogg, aged 40, moved to Edinburgh in 1810. In Edinburgh, Hogg established a weekly paper entitled, The Spy but onl...

Ballantyne, John

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t17n8q (person)