I came to Edinburgh to see a poetry collection. I’ve seen the book before, but this was a copy presented by the ‘poetess’ [poet] to a friend, whom I’d discovered was a Glasgow publisher. And the catalogue mentioned additional papers associated with the book. Now, wouldn’t that intrigue any scholar?
Wild Goose-Chase
But yesterday, I learned that there weren’t as many papers as the catalogue hinted. They’ve somehow gone missing. Disappointed, I came anyway, to see what remained. Which turned out to be, not a lot. However, what little there was, was informative – in a negative kind of way.
Jump Not To Conclusions!
At the end of the day, there’s a moral to this story! It doesn’t really matter much about the missing papers, because the friend was NOT the Glasgow publisher (about whom I’d learned a lot, on the train to Edinburgh) …. Even when a name looks distinctive and appropriate, it is wise to maintain a healthy element of scepticism.
No, this was another gent with the same name. A highly-esteemed Wishaw bone-setter. Yes, you read that right.
I’ll never know whether the poet consulted him about a child’s injury, or her own ‘rheumatics’. But I can be fairly sure it wasn’t for advice about publishing poetry!
I reread a few poems, had a coffee, and came home again.
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 