Historic manuscripts set to go under the hammer

The manuscripts date back to the 1790s to 1820 and are believed to have been written by poet Richard Gall, who it has been claimed had work wrongly attributed to Robert Burns.

They will be sold at auction at Montford Parish Hall at Shrawardine, near Shrewsbury, on December 8.

The papers were discovered in a box of ephemera by an anonymous seller who is a friend of auctioneer Peter Sharman who has agreed to sell them on his behalf through A5 Auctions who operate sales at the Parish Hall every Thursday.

Peter, 72, who lives near Oswestry, said: "The vendor is a friend who found these among a collection of papers in an old box.

"I thought there was some significance to these 79 old manuscripts and a book manuscript which neither myself or workers at the National Library of Scotland have been able to trace as ever having been printed.

"A number of people claim that Richard Gall was a friend or acquaintance of Robbie Burns but this is disputed by some academics.

"He wrote these poems, some of which are in the old Scottish language.

"The selection of poems include My Only Joy and Dearie 'O, The Braes O Drumlee, The Bonnie Blink O Mary's E,e, Captain O Kain and The Hazel Wood Witch.

"He also wrote On The Death Of Burns.

"Richard Gall was the son of a notary in the Dunbar area where he was born in 1776.

"Although he received a limited education, at 11-years-old he was apprenticed to his maternal uncle who was a house carpenter and builder.

"He did not enjoy this and soon afterwards entered the business of a printer and in the course of apprenticeship to David Ramsay, the liberal and enlightened printer of the Edinburgh Evening Courant, he made great advances in knowledge and began compiling poetry in the manner of Burns.

"Later he obtained the appointment of travelling clerk to Mr Ramsay which gave him a better opportunity to write and continued in this capacity until his death in 1801, just short of his 25th birthday.

"During this time he secured by his genius and modest manners the friendship of various literary characters of considerable eminence such as Alexander Murray, afterwards Professor of Oriental Languages, Thomas Campbell, author of The Pleasure of Hope, and Hector Macneill, an author of many acclaimed poems in the Scottish dialect.

"As far as we know only one book by Gall was published in 1819.

"The National Library of Scotland has shown interest in acquiring the documents and the guide price for the collection of manuscripts has been set at present as between £1,500 to £2,000."