In 1925 William Roughead (1870-1952) issued an edition of A Rich Man and Other Stories by John Galt. It was published by T N Foulis Ltd of Edinburgh and London. The book contains three works by Galt which had previously been serialised in various publications.
John Galt
The volume contains the following tales by John Galt -A Rich Man; or He Has Great Merit described as being the Autobiography of Archibald Plack Esq, Late Lord Mayor of London in a series of letters to his grandson, the Honourable George Spend. First published in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine in 1836. A review of Roughead’s edition in the Edinburgh Evening News on 4 November 1925 describes the story - “with pawky humour, Galt traces the meteoric career of a penniless Scot in London.”
From Edinburgh Evening News 1925
The second work is The Tribulations of the Rev Cowal Kilmun which was also first published in
Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine from November 1835 until January 1836. Roughead describes Kilmun as – “a simple,
kindly childlike soul, whose knowledge of human nature and acquaintance with
life are bounded by the narrow confines of his rural charge.” He compares him with Rev Balwhidder from Galt’s
Annals of the Parish.
The third tale is My Landlady and Her Lodgers which was published in Blackwoods Magazine between August and November 1829. In a letter to Blackwood, Galt describes the work - “It embraces something of satirical remark on London.”
Roughead’s edition also comes with a glossary of Scots words which the Edinburgh Evening News review notes – “It will doubtless be in much use, as Galt often uses the Scots vernacular. It is most interesting to study the quaint old words.” It certainly is a useful addition.
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| Advertisement for Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1835 |
Two of these three works were written after John Galt had returned to Greenock in 1834 and just a few years before his death. In the book, Roughead also includes a sample of Galt’s handwritten manuscript of A Rich Man. He writes of the pages of the manuscript – “They are entirely and throughout in Galt’s running script, which shows that he wrote the story with his own hand, before he was disabled by the paralysis that compelled him to dictate all his later work.”
The book also contains two pictures of John Galt. Roughead dedicated the book to J M Barrie (1860-1837), the author best known as the creator of Peter Pan. William Roughead was a lawyer and is thought of as a pioneer of true crime fiction. There is an excellent article about the writer on the WS Society, at The Signet Library, Edinburgh - click on blue link to be taken to site.
