HATELY WADDELL, Peter
Ossian and the Clyde
Ossian and the Clyde
Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1875
Illustrated by
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HATELY WADDELL, Peter. Ossian and the Clyde, Fingal in Ireland, Oscar in Iceland, or Ossian Historical and Authentic.
Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1875. 10.5" x 8". 4-360 [1], ii-lxv pp. With vignette illustrations and two heliotype plates.
First Edition and Presentation Copy of this scarce work detailing a Scottish cleric's attempt to confirm the authenticity of the Ossianic poems by the identification of topographical references that could not be known to James Macpherson. Inscribed and dedicated by the author to Miss Mary Wilson in 1876. A rare work, particularly as an author presentation copy.
A good copy with binding square and largely firm, with fraying to spine tips and bumping to corners, with some stains and patches of discolouration to the binding, with tanning and a few spots of foxing to the closed text block. Internally, the hinges are shaken and partially broken (but not falling apart), there are a couple of shallow breaks to gutter throughout, and there are some penciled inscriptions in text throughout. The page after FFEP and before the half-title has been inscribed by the author: "Miss Mary Wilson, Ballymoney, with the kindest best wishes and compliments of the author, Glasgow: May 19th 1876".
First published by James Macpherson in early 1760s, 'The Poems of Ossian' were presented by Macpherson as translations of ancient Gaelic epics told by the legendary bard Ossian in Irish mythology, and recounting stories "of endless battles and unhappy loves" involving Ossian's father, the hero Fingal (loosely based on the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhaill), his dead son Oscar (son of Oisín in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology), and Oscar's lover Malvina, who looked after Ossian in his old age. The works became a literary sensation across Europe and greatly influenced the Romantic movement and the Gaelic revival, with the likes of Napoleon, Diderot and Thoreau being huge admirers; Thomas Jefferson thought Ossian "the greatest poet that has ever existed", and planned to learn Gaelic so as to read his poems in the original.
The authenticity of Macpherson's Ossianic poems was, for many centuries, cause for much debate in the literary community, with Samuel Johnson being the main figure to dismiss both the poems' authenticity and quality, calling them "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with". In the 19th century, Peter Hately Waddell was one of the main defenders of the authenticity of the poems, arguing in "Ossian and the Clyde", presented herewith in its first edition form, that Ossian's poems contained topographical references that could not have been known to Macpherson.
Nowadays, Ossian's poems is considered a classic "found manuscript" trope as they have been largely proved as Macpherson's own creations inspired by Celtic legend. Despite this, the Ossian cycle still popularised Celtic mythology across Europe, and became one of the earliest and most popular texts that inspired romantic nationalism over the following century.
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