Lord Cockburn: The Letters - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0859766306 ISBN 13: 9780859766302

Publisher: John Donald, 2005

Synopsis

Born and educated in Edinburgh, he became an advocate in 1800 and gained a reputation for persuasive handling of seemingly desperate cases, most famously that of Helen MacDougall, common law wife of the body-snatcher William Burke, in 1828. Like his compatriot and fellow judge Thomas Jeffrey, Cockburn was converted to Whig principles, contributing articles to Jeffrey's Edinburgh Review and writing his biography (Life of Lord Jeffrey, 1852). Although this was the only major work Cockburn published during his lifetime, his reputation as a man of letters rests principally on his journals, which were published posthumously as Memorials of His Time (1856), The Journal of Henry Cockburn (1874) and Circuit Journeys (1888). Together they present an enormously informative and valuable portrait of the period and many of its most significant personalities. Cockburn became Rector of Glasgow University in the early 1830s and a Lord of Session in 1834, and was actively involved in the conservation of Edinburgh's historic buildings. Cockburn's published works are complemented by his letters, largely unpublished but preserved by many of his correspondents and their families.
This selection of 180 [new] letters provides much fresh information about his career as advocate, judge, Whig activist, genial family man and pioneer in building conservation. Together with the rest of his works, they confirm him as a key figure in that generation of thinkers and artists who followed on from those who made the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment such a rich moment in Europe's cultural history. It is destined to become another classic in the tradition of the Memorials.

About this title

About the Author

After working with the National Library of Scotland, Alan Bell became Rhodes House Librarian in Oxford, before moving on to be Librarian of the London Library, a post from which he has recently retired. He now lives in Edinburgh.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Donald
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0859766306
• ISBN 13: 9780859766302
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Bell Alan