Tales of Superstition and Chivalry
- London: Printed for Vernor and Hood…by James Swan, 1802
London: Printed for Vernor and Hood…by James Swan, 1802. First edition. Very Good +. Publisher’s blue paper-covered boards with printed paper spine label. Joints beginning to split (still holding) and some wear to corners. Some minor toning but overall quite clean. A fresh, Very Good+ copy in the desirable original boards. Octavo. [8], 144 pp. Complete with the scarce frontispiece and three plates. The frontispiece, a full-length female nude illustrating the story “The Prophecy of Merlin,” generated some scandal, causing it to be withdrawn from the volume at Anne Bannerman's request (though some copies, including this one, still retain the controversial plate).
The poet Anne Bannerman (1765 – 1829) was a part of the Edinburgh literature circle that also included John Leyden, Thomas Campbell, and Dr. Robert Anderson, the latter of whom edited the Edinburgh Magazine. Anderson, an early supporter of Bannerman’s work, published her writing in his periodical and praised her work to their literary contemporaries. Bannerman published only three books: Poems (1800), the present work, and an updated edition of her Poems that appeared by subscription in 1807 in an attempt to save her from poverty. Bannerman’s first book of poems was well reviewed, earning admiration particularly for a series of odes, which “evok[ed] a sublime and visionary poetic identity” (ODNB); and for two series of sonnets, one original and one translated from Petrarch. Bannerman was strongly influenced by Scottish Gothic poet and dramatist Joanna Baillie (1762 – 1851), and applied Baillie’s 1796 theory of dramatic composition to her own sonnet series; after publishing her Poems, Bannerman sent Baillie a presentation copy of the work.
Published two years after her debut collection, Tales of Superstition and Chivalry frustrated and perplexed some critics, though Sir Walter Scott responded positively to the work. In fact, Bannerman was the only woman writer included by Scott in his Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad (1830). Of her Tales of Superstition and Chivalry, Scott wrote, “They were perhaps too mystical and too abrupt; yet if it be the purpose of this kind of ballad poetry powerfully to excite the imagination, without pretending to satisfy it, few persons have succeeded better than this gifted lady, whose volume is peculiarly fit to be read in a lonely house by a decaying lamp.” Despite a relatively small poetic output, Bannerman’s enduring significance lies in the originality and chilling ambiance she brought to her Gothic ballads, her position among her contemporaries in Scottish poetry, and her innovative sonnets and odes.
Oxford DNB. Very Good +.
The poet Anne Bannerman (1765 – 1829) was a part of the Edinburgh literature circle that also included John Leyden, Thomas Campbell, and Dr. Robert Anderson, the latter of whom edited the Edinburgh Magazine. Anderson, an early supporter of Bannerman’s work, published her writing in his periodical and praised her work to their literary contemporaries. Bannerman published only three books: Poems (1800), the present work, and an updated edition of her Poems that appeared by subscription in 1807 in an attempt to save her from poverty. Bannerman’s first book of poems was well reviewed, earning admiration particularly for a series of odes, which “evok[ed] a sublime and visionary poetic identity” (ODNB); and for two series of sonnets, one original and one translated from Petrarch. Bannerman was strongly influenced by Scottish Gothic poet and dramatist Joanna Baillie (1762 – 1851), and applied Baillie’s 1796 theory of dramatic composition to her own sonnet series; after publishing her Poems, Bannerman sent Baillie a presentation copy of the work.
Published two years after her debut collection, Tales of Superstition and Chivalry frustrated and perplexed some critics, though Sir Walter Scott responded positively to the work. In fact, Bannerman was the only woman writer included by Scott in his Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad (1830). Of her Tales of Superstition and Chivalry, Scott wrote, “They were perhaps too mystical and too abrupt; yet if it be the purpose of this kind of ballad poetry powerfully to excite the imagination, without pretending to satisfy it, few persons have succeeded better than this gifted lady, whose volume is peculiarly fit to be read in a lonely house by a decaying lamp.” Despite a relatively small poetic output, Bannerman’s enduring significance lies in the originality and chilling ambiance she brought to her Gothic ballads, her position among her contemporaries in Scottish poetry, and her innovative sonnets and odes.
Oxford DNB. Very Good +.