Among the songs that Robert Burns wrote for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, one of the most... more Among the songs that Robert Burns wrote for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, one of the most popular has been that beginning "Flow gently, sweet Afton." 2 In 2013, the University of South Carolina Libraries acquired, as a memorial tribute to the late Prof. G. Ross Roy, an autograph manuscript that has never been available to Burns scholars, though it had been recorded three times at auction, in 1861, in 1979, and most recently in 2013. The purpose of this note is to describe and illustrate the new manuscript, to provide a collation of variants, and to suggest its place in the manuscript sequence relative to other sources. It appears to be the earliest surviving manuscript version of the song. The Roy Collection manuscript is one of three manuscripts of the song now known that are in Burns's own hand. It was not among the manuscripts known to James Kinsley for his 1968 edition of Burns's Poems and Songs, though subsequently, in 1986, its existence was noted, without any location being recorded, based on the 1979 auction record, in the Burns section of the comprehensive Index of English Literary Manuscripts. 3 The manuscript now in the Roy Collection is headed "Afton Braes," rather than "Afton Water," or "Sweet Afton," as in other sources, with the air noted as "Tune Banks of Tay." It is written on one side of a single 1 This note incorporates some material originally prepared for the University of South Carolina's formal announcement of this acquisition, in January 2014. The manuscript is reproduced here courtesy of the University of South Carolina Libraries. I am grateful to Elizabeth Sudduth, Director of the Irvin Department, for her interest and collaboration in assembling images and material.
Among the songs that Robert Burns wrote for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, one of the most... more Among the songs that Robert Burns wrote for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, one of the most popular has been that beginning "Flow gently, sweet Afton." 2 In 2013, the University of South Carolina Libraries acquired, as a memorial tribute to the late Prof. G. Ross Roy, an autograph manuscript that has never been available to Burns scholars, though it had been recorded three times at auction, in 1861, in 1979, and most recently in 2013. The purpose of this note is to describe and illustrate the new manuscript, to provide a collation of variants, and to suggest its place in the manuscript sequence relative to other sources. It appears to be the earliest surviving manuscript version of the song. The Roy Collection manuscript is one of three manuscripts of the song now known that are in Burns's own hand. It was not among the manuscripts known to James Kinsley for his 1968 edition of Burns's Poems and Songs, though subsequently, in 1986, its existence was noted, without any location being recorded, based on the 1979 auction record, in the Burns section of the comprehensive Index of English Literary Manuscripts. 3 The manuscript now in the Roy Collection is headed "Afton Braes," rather than "Afton Water," or "Sweet Afton," as in other sources, with the air noted as "Tune Banks of Tay." It is written on one side of a single 1 This note incorporates some material originally prepared for the University of South Carolina's formal announcement of this acquisition, in January 2014. The manuscript is reproduced here courtesy of the University of South Carolina Libraries. I am grateful to Elizabeth Sudduth, Director of the Irvin Department, for her interest and collaboration in assembling images and material.
Uploads
Papers by Patrick Scott