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Part of
The Dynamics of Text and Framing Phenomena: Historical approaches to paratext and metadiscourse in English
Edited by Matti Peikola and Birte Bös
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 317] 2020
► pp. 267–288

Chapter 11
Recuperating Older Scots in the early 18th century

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In early 18th-century Scotland, a group of writers and printers appeared who were engaged, as a community of practice, on the recuperation of Scots verse composed some two hundred years earlier. In doing so they have a claim to be the ‘inventors’ of Scots, bringing about what literary critics have regularly referred to as the ‘vernacular revival’. In this chapter, the editorial work of two key figures – Allan Ramsay and Thomas Ruddiman – is examined. It is shown how features of ‘expressive form’ in their editions, such as spelling and punctuation, can be related closely to the paratextual materials supplied. It is also shown how Ramsay’s and Ruddiman’s editorial practices relate closely to their own ideological interests.

Keywords: spelling, punctuation, textual criticism, Scots, poetry, print, manuscript, ideology, Jacobitism, Enlightenment
Article outline
  • 1.A Jacobite community of practice
  • 2. Allan Ramsay’s The Ever Green (1724)
  • 3.Thomas Ruddiman’s edition of Douglas’s Eneados (1710)
  • 4.One community, two practices …
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Primary sources
  • Secondary sources
Published online: 18 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.317.11smi
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