University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Critical Studies - Research - Research Centres and Networks - Centre for Robert Burns Studies - The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay

Bibliography

To date the most comprehensive bibliographical coverage of Allan Ramsay is Burns Martin’s ‘A Bibliography of the Writings of Allan Ramsay,’ printed in The Records of the Glasgow Bibliographical Society volume 10, 1931. Kinghorn and Law provided some new items in their ‘Bibliography’, volume 6 of the The Works of Allan Ramsay (1974), and both editions were aware of the earlier bibliographical work done by Andrew Gibson in his New Light on Allan Ramsay (1927).

But in making progress with the Collected Works in this digital age, we are looking to produce a new bibliography of Ramsay. There are many important things to consider, from fully descriptive entries to the presence of digital editions available online. In this page we will post updates on the progress of the Bibliography and any new resources that are developed.

Below, you will find our (growing) list of secondary texts on Ramsay, which we hope you find useul.

Descriptive Bibliography (sample)

Poems (Edinburgh: 1721)

Imprint Thomas Ruddiman (1674-1757)

Format 4to; a-b⁴ c² d⁴ A-3D⁴µ.

Illustration Frontispiece: portrait of a young Ramsay after John Smibert (1688-1751): variant portraits executed by [1] George Vertue & [2] Theodor Verkuys.

Consulted [1] NLS H.29.a.20; [2] NLS Bdg.m.22; [3] another NLS copy containing MS poem shelf-marked MS 9749.

References Andrew Gibson, New Light on Allan Ramsay (Edinburgh: William Brown, 1927),148-9; Burns Martin, Bibliography of Allan Ramsay (Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Company, 1931), 37 (§57).

Notes Ramsay’s work had been appearing in print since probably 1713, mostly in chapbooks and broadsides, of which many were reprinted without his permission. It was not until 1720 that an effort was made to sell a collected edition of poems, but that ‘gather-up edition’ has many problems of its own, from provenance to pagination. This work, printed by Thomas Ruddiman, is the first serious and authoritative edition of Ramsay’s work. Burns Martin calls it ‘the well-known subscribers’ edition,’ making reference to the printing proposals in the August 11, 1720 number of the Caledonian Mercury. Copy [1] contains the frontispiece by Vertue; [2] contains a large mezzotint portrait of Ramsay by George White after William Aikman, ie. not the portrait intended to as the frontispiece for this edition; [3] contains the portrait after Smibert by Verkuys.

ESTC No. T42590

Secondary Bibliography

Secondary Bibliography in order of publication date (most recent first)

Scottish Literary Review 10:1 (Glasgow: ASLS, 2018) ed. Murray Pittock.

Brown, Rhona, ‘The Afterlives of Allan Ramsay in the British Periodical Press, 1720–1870’, pp. 95-115.

Gillespie, Stuart, “‘Horace's Letter of Invitation”: A Newly Discovered Horatian Imitation by Allan Ramsay’, pp. 159-168.

Jung, Sandro, ‘James Robertson’s Poems of Allan Ramsay (1802) and the Adaptation of Other Scottish Booksellers’ Book Illustrations of the Works of Ramsay’, pp. 139-158.

Lamont, Craig, ‘Allan Ramsay and Edinburgh: Commemoration in the City of Forgetting’, pp. 117-137.

Mackay, Pauline, “‘In Bawdy Policy Well-Gifted”: Allan Ramsay, Bawdry and the Reformation of Manners’, pp. 73-94.

McGuinness, David & McGregor, Aaron, ‘Ramsay's Musical Sources: Reconstructing a Poet's Musical Memory’, pp. 49-71.

Newman, Steve, ‘“Hodden-Gray”: Pastoral, Enlightenment Re-Mediation, and The Proverbial Allan Ramsay’, pp. 1-18.

Young, Ronnie, “‘The Book of Maybees is very Braid”: Ramsay's Collection of Scots Proverbs and Enlightenment Print Culture’, pp. 19-48.
Andrew, Patricia R. “Four Statues and a Landslip: Allan Ramsay, John Wilson, Thomas Guthrie and Charity.” Book of the Old Edinburgh Club New Series Vol. 12 (Edinburgh: 2016), 65-82.
Morris, R. J., ‘Ramsay Garden: “Professor Geddes’s New Buildings,”’ Book of the Old Edinburgh Club New Series Vol. 10 (2014) pp. 107–126.

Campbell, Mungo et al, Allan Ramsay: portraits of the Enlightenment. Munich: Prestel, 2013.
Newman, Steve, “Second-Sighted Scot: Allan Ramsay and the South Sea Bubble,” The Scottish Literary Review, Spring/Summer 2012 (4:1): 18-33.
Gelbart, Matthew. “Allan Ramsay, the Idea of ‘Scottish Music’ and the Beginnings of ‘National Music’ in Europe.” Eighteenth-Century Music 9/1 (Cambridge: CUP, 2012), 81-108.
Brown, Rhona. “Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns.” In Burns and Other Poets. Edited by David Sergeant and Fiona Stafford, 23–38. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011.
Pittock, Murray. Scottish and Irish Romanticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Newman, Steve. Ballad Collection, Lyric, and the Canon: The Call of the Popular from the Restoration to the New Criticism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.
Pittock, Murray. “Allan Ramsay and the Decolonisation of Genre.” Review of English Studies 58:235 (2007): 316–337.
Gelbart, Matthew. The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music”’. Cambridge: CUP, 2007. Discussion of Ramsay 31ff.
Andrews, Corey. Literary Nationalism in Eighteenth-Century Scottish Club Poetry. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2004.
MacLachlan, Christopher, ed. Before Burns: Eighteenth-Century Scottish Poetry. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2002.
Newman, Steve. “The Scots Songs of Allan Ramsay: ‘Lyrick’ Transformation, Popular Culture, and the Boundaries of the Scottish Enlightenment.” Modern Language Quarterly 63.3 (2002): 277–314.
Frishcer, Bernard D. & Brown, Iain Gordon eds., Allan Ramsay and the search for Horace’s Villa. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001.
Murphy, Michael. “Allan Ramsay’s Contribution to Theatre in Edinburgh, 1719–39.” Scottish Studies Review 2.2 (2001): 9–28.
Carruthers, Gerard, and Sarah Dunnigan. “A Reconfused Chaos Now: Scottish Poetry and Nation from the Medieval Period to the Eighteenth Century.” Edinburgh Review 100 (1999): 81–94.
Greaves, Roger. “‘Thigging a Fable fra a Frenchman’: Allan Ramsay’s Imitations of La Fontaine and La Motte.” Translation and Literature 8:2 (1999): 176–196.
Rieuwerts, Sigrid. “Allan Ramsay and the Scottish Ballads.” Aberdeen University Review 58.201 (1999): 29–41.
Jack, R. D. S. “Which Vernacular Revival?” Studies in Scottish Literature 30 (1998): 9–17.
Murphy, Michael. “Allan Ramsay (1686–1758): Jacobite War or Hanoverian Peace?” In Guerres et paix: La Grande-Bretagne au XVIIIe siècle, I–II. Edited by Paul-Gabriel Boucé, 165–173. Paris: Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1998.
Simpson, Kenneth. “Poetic Genre and National Identity: Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns.” Studies in Scottish Literature 30 (1997): 31–42.
MacLaine, Allan H., ed. The Christis Kirk Tradition: Scottish Poems of Folk Festivity. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1996.
Buffoni, Franco. “La pastorale scozzese di Allan Ramsay.” Compar(a)ison: An International Journal of Comparative Literature 2 (1993): 261–277.
Buffoni, Franco. Ramsay e Ferguson precursori di Burns: Poesia pastorale e poesia vernacolare nel Settecento scozzese. Milan: Guerini, 1992.
Kinghorn, Alexander Manson. “Watson’s Choice, Ramsay’s Voice and a Flash of Fergusson.” Scottish Literary Journal 19.2 (1992): 5–23.
Pittock, Murray. “Were the Easy Club Jacobites?” Scottish Literary Journal 17:1 (1990): 91–94.
Mackay, James A. “Two Hitherto Unrecorded Letters of Allan Ramsay.” Studies in Scottish Literature 24 (1989): 1–6.
Law, Alexander. “Allan Ramsay and the Easy Club.” Scottish Literary Journal 16.2 (1989): 18–40.
Freeman, F. W. “Pastoral and Politics at Mid-Century.” In The History of Scottish Literature. Vol. 2. Edited by Andrew Hook, 141–156. Aberdeen, UK: Aberdeen University Press, 1987.
McClure, J. Derrick. “Language and Genre in Ramsay’s 1721 Poems.” In Aberdeen and the Enlightenment: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Aberdeen. Edited by Jennifer J. Carter and Joan H. Pittock, 261–269. Aberdeen, UK: Aberdeen University Press, 1987.
Murphy, Michael. “Glossing Allan Ramsay.” Bulletin de la Société d’Études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles 43 (1986): 75–80.
Brown, Iain Gordon. “‘Superfyn Poetry Nae Doubt?’ Advice to Allan Ramsay, and a Criticism of The Gentle Shepherd.” Bibliotheck 13.2 (1986): 33–41.
MacLaine, Allan H. Allan Ramsay. Boston: Twayne, 1985.
Law, Alexander. “Allan Ramsay: Edinburgh University’s Recent Acquisitions.” Studies in Scottish Literature 20 (1985): 48–56.
Crawford, Thomas. “The Medievalism of Allan Ramsay.” Scottish Studies 4 (1984): 497–507.
Brown, Iain G. Poet and Painter: Allan Ramsay, Father and Son, 1684–1784. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 1984.
McGuirk, Carol. “Augustan Influences on Allan Ramsay.” Studies in Scottish Literature 16 (1981): 97–109.
Freeman, F. W. “The Intellectual Background of the Vernacular Revival before Burns.” Studies in Scottish Literature 16 (1981): 168–187.
Freeman, F. W., and Alexander Law. “Allan Ramsay’s First Published Poem: The Poem to the Memory of Dr. Archibald Pitcairne.” Bibliotheck 9.5 (1979): 153–160.
Zenzinger, Peter. My Muse Is British: Allan Ramsay und die Neubelebung der schottischen Dichtkunst im 18. Jahrhundert. Grossen-Linden, West Germany: Hoffmann, 1977.
Kinghorn, Alexander Manson, and Alexander Law, eds. Poems by Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1974.
Allentuck, Marcia E. “David Hume and Allan Ramsay: A New Letter.” Studies in Scottish Literature 9 (1972): 265–266.
Thomas G. Rosenmeyer, The Green Cabinet: Theocritus and the European Pastoral Lyric. Berkeley and LA: University of California Press, 1969 (p10).
McElroy, Davis D. Scotland’s Age of Improvement: A Survey of Eighteenth-Century Literary Clubs and Societies. Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1969.
Pegg, M. A. “An Unrecorded Edition of Allan Ramsay.” Studies in Scottish Literature 2 (1964): 61.
Helen Armet, ‘Allan Ramsay of Kinkell’s Property on the Castlehill’, Book of the Old Edinburgh Club XXX (1959), 19-30
Montgomerie, William. “The Scottish Folk-Song Tradition in Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns.” In Robert Fergusson, 1750–74: Essays by Various Hands to Commemorate the Bicentenary of His Birth. Edited by Sydney Goodsir Smith, 172–187. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1952.
Martin, Burns, Alexander Manson Kinghorn, and Alexander Law, eds. The Works of Allan Ramsay. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1951–1974.
Bertrand Bronson, Joseph Ritson: Scholar-at-Arms. 2 vols. University of California Press: Berkeley, 1938. I:232 ff discussion of Ritson and Ramsay, including Ritson’s projected edition of this ‘untutored child of nature & of genius’ (I:232)
Martin, Burns. Allan Ramsay: A Study of His Life and Works. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931.
Martin, Burns. Bibliography of Allan Ramsay. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie, 1931.
Grattan Flood, W. H. “The First Ballad Opera: Allan Ramsay’s ‘The Gentle Shepherd.’” Musical Times 69.1026 (1928).
Chapman, R. W. “Allan Ramsay’s Poems 1720.” Review of English Studies 3.11 (1927): 343–346.
Gibson, Andrew. New Light on Allan Ramsay. Edinburgh: Brown, 1924.
These Fifty Years: The story of Carrubber’s Close Mission, Edinburgh. Edinburgh: The Tract and Colportage Society, 1909, includes a photograph of the interior of Ramsay’s converted theatre (p19)-case argued by Joe Rock.
Mackail, J. W. “Allan Ramsay and the Romantic Revival.” Essays and Studies 10 (1908): 137–144.
Smeaton, Oliphant. Allan Ramsay [Famous Scots Series]. Edinburgh: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1896.
Irving, David. The Lives of the Scottish Poets. Glasgow: MacLehose, 1810.

New work by our team

As the project develops our Editoral and research partners share their findings with audiences and readers via conferences and journals. In this section we offer an overview of these outputs and will keep it updated over the course of the projects.

Conference papers/ lectures

2023

Panel: 'The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay: a Scholarly Edition in Review', British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies 48th Annual Conference, 4 January 2023.
- Professor Murray Pittock, University of Glasgow
  The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay: Social Text and Social Context
- Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, University of Glasgow/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
  The musical archaeology of Allan Ramsay’s Tea Table Miscellany volumes 3 & 4
- Dr Craig Lamont, University of Glasgow
  The Prose of Allan Ramsay: books, business, and buildings

2019

David McGuinness and Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, 'Early evidence for the music in Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd and its performance history', Musica Scotica, Stirling, 3 May 2019.

Panel: 'Archives, Meditation, and Publication [ECSSS], American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 50th Annual Meeting(Denver, CO), 22 March 2019
- Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, 'The origins of ‘The Yellow Hair’d Laddie: A case Study for editing music in Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd'.
- Steve Newman, 'The Gentle Shepherd, the Archives, and (Re)Meditation'.

Panel: 'The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay: issues of text and music', British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies 48th Annual Conference, 4 January 2019.
- Craig Lamont, '"The Ravishing Images crowd upon me": Diversity and Craft in the early poetry of Allan Ramsay'.
- Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, 'Indoor or outdoor? The Performance history of Allan Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd.'

2018

David McGuinness, Aaron McGregor w/ Concerto Caledonia, performing scenes from The Gentle Shepherd. 8th European Conference on Alcohol Policy, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 20 November 2018.

Publications

Robertson-Kirkland, B. ‘Damage to trees’: Performing Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd at Haddington Grammar School: A theory and its scholarly impact. Theatre Notebook, 75:3, 2021, pp.173-186. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/850992.

'Allan Ramsay's Future', Studies in Scottish Literature, 46:2 ed. Murray Pittock and Craig Lamont.

Murray Pittock and Craig Lamont, 'Introduction: Allan Ramsay's Future', pp.3-7.
Murray Pittock, 'Allan Ramsay: Romanticism and Reception', pp.8-21.
Rhona Brown, 'Networks of Sociability in Allan Ramsay's The Fair Assembly', pp.22-39.
Craig Lamont, ''Some Few Miles from Edinburgh': Commemorating the Scenes of The Gentle Shepherd in Ramsay Country', pp.40-60
Ralph McLean, ''Compylit in Latin': Allan Ramsay and Scoto-Latinity in the Eighteenth Century', pp.61-76.
Steve Newman, ''Some Pastoral Improvement' in The Gentle Shepherd: Mediation, Remediation, and Minority', pp.77-102.
Brianna E. Robertson-Kirkland, 'Mapping Changes to the Songs in The Gentle Shepherd, 1725-1788', pp.103-126.
Jeremy J. Smith, 'Methodising Scots: the Cases of Allan Ramsay & Thomas Ruddiman', pp.127-147.

Rhona Brown, 'Self-Curation, Self-Editing and Audience Construction by Eighteenth-Century Scots Vernacular Poets', Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 42:2, https://doi.org/10.1111/1754-0208.12605.

Murray Pittock, Enlightenment in a Smart City: Edinburgh's Civic Development, 1660-1750 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018).

Scottish Literary Review 10:1 (Glasgow: ASLS, 2018) ed. Murray Pittock:

Rhona Brown, ‘The Afterlives of Allan Ramsay in the British Periodical Press, 1720–1870’, pp. 95-115.
Stuart Gillespie, “‘Horace's Letter of Invitation”: A Newly Discovered Horatian Imitation by Allan Ramsay’, pp. 159-168.
Sandro Jung, ‘James Robertson’s Poems of Allan Ramsay (1802) and the Adaptation of Other Scottish Booksellers’ Book Illustrations of the Works of Ramsay’, pp. 139-158.
Craig Lamont, ‘Allan Ramsay and Edinburgh: Commemoration in the City of Forgetting’, pp. 117-137.
Pauline Mackay, “‘In Bawdy Policy Well-Gifted”: Allan Ramsay, Bawdry and the Reformation of Manners’, pp. 73-94.
David McGuinness & Aaron McGregor, ‘Ramsay's Musical Sources: Reconstructing a Poet's Musical Memory’, pp. 49-71.
Steve Newman, ‘“Hodden-Gray”: Pastoral, Enlightenment Re-Mediation, and The Proverbial Allan Ramsay’, pp. 1-18.
Ronnie Young, “‘The Book of Maybees is very Braid”: Ramsay's Collection of Scots Proverbs and Enlightenment Print Culture’, pp. 19-48.

We use cookies

Necessary cookies

Analytics cookies

Clarity

Bibliography

Descriptive Bibliography (sample)

Secondary Bibliography

Secondary Bibliography in order of publication date (most recent first)

New work by our team