Catherine Carswell : The Life of Robert Burns (With Letter from Donald Carswell)

The Life of Robert Burns

By Catherine Carswell

Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1930. First Edition. Hardback book, blue cloth binding, no jacket, 467 pages.

Accompanying the book is a letter from Donald Carswell (Catherine's second husband) to a Mr Salmond in which he mentions having an amusing week-end with Willa and Edwin Muir (se images provided).

Neither of Carswell's first two books brought her fame or fortune. She became well known only after finishing this controversial biography of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, in 1930. Orthodox Burns fans dismissed this frank, demystifying account of the poet's life. The Burns Club attacked her with sermons in Glasgow Cathedral and someone sent her a bullet accompanied by a letter asking her to "make the world a cleaner place."

Catherine Roxburgh Carswell (née Macfarlane; 27 March 1879 – 18 February 1946) was a Scottish author, biographer and journalist, now known as one of the few women to take part in the Scottish Renaissance. Her biography of the Scottish poet Robert Burns aroused controversy, but two earlier novels of hers, set in Edwardian Glasgow, were little noticed until their republication by the feminist publishing house Virago in 1987. Her work is now seen as integral to Scottish women's writing of the early 20th century.

CONDITION
A good first edition. The cloth binding is good with no tearing and the inner and outer hinges are sucure with no craking. All contents present and pages in good condition throughout. Letter in good condition. Overall very good.

(Location : Platform, Scotland 1)