The Falls of Clyde, or, The Fairies; A Scotish [sic] Dramatic Pastoral, in Five Acts With Three Preliminary Investigations

A fairy drama preceded by a long dissertation by the author ‘On Fairies’, the Scottish Langauge and Pastoral. Handsomely bound in half dark green morocco over marbled boards. Frontispiece of the Falls by R Scot; engraved title to the play drawn by J Burnet and engraved by R Scott: pp241. A lovely copy.

In the early 19th century, fairies, or Sìthichean, held a deeply rooted place in Scottish culture, particularly in the Highlands and Islands. Far from the whimsical, small, winged creatures of Victorian literature, Scottish fairies were viewed as a powerful, capricious race of supernatural beings, similar in size to humans, who lived in a parallel world. In this play the fairies are Mab, Bob and ‘Other Fairies’; the setting is near Lanark in the 16th century.