Author: KELLY (James):
Title: A Complete Collection of Scotish Proverbs Explained and made Intelligible to the English Reader.
Description: London: Printed for William and John Innys..., and John Osborn..., 1721. FIRST EDITION. 8v0, 191 x 117 mms., pp. [xiv], 400 [401 - 481 Index], later 18th century sheepskin, neatly rebacked, title in gilt on spine. A very good copy. Very little seems to be know about James Kelly, except that he was born and educated in Scotland. His work was preceded by that of David Ferguson (d. 1598), whose collection was published posthumously in 1641, as well as other collections by John Maxwell, James Carmichael, and John Ray, among others. Kelly's work was certainly the largest and most important collection of Scottish (or Scotish, or Scots) proverbs to exist when it was published, and it is still remarkable for his usefulness. Allan Ramsay published his own collection of Scots Proverbs in 1737, saying of Kelly's, that it was a "late large book of them [Scottish proverbs] full of errors, of a style neither Scots nor English."

Keywords: proverbs language literature


See more books from our catalog: Proverbs