Reliques of Robert Burns.
Gratz Family Copy
[Judaica]. [Gratz Family]. Cromek, R. H. Reliques of Robert Burns; consisting chiefly of original letters, poems, and critical observations on Scottish songs. Philadelphia…: Bradford and Inskeep, 1809.
8vo.; top edge darkened; endpapers offset and foxed; leather boards, soiled; red leather title label affixed to spine; stamped in gilt; edgeworn.
First American edition; first published in London in 1808. Ownership signature of Rebecca Gratz’s brother Joseph Gratz on the title page, signed “Jo. Gratz.” Of the twelve Gratz children – five girls and seven boys – only three of the sons and two daughters married; Joseph and Rebecca lived together with their other unwed siblings, and they all helped to raise the six children of their sister Rachel, who had died prematurely.
R. H. Cromek (1770-1812) was an engraver, literary entrepreneur and publisher. In 1807, he began collecting previously unpublished manuscripts by Burns; his findings are reflected here in his Reliques.
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“Cromek, Robert Hartley (1770–1812),” by Dennis M. Read, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 11 Jan. 2008 <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6752>.
Jewish American Literature. A Norton Anthology, by Jules Chametzky, New York…: W.W. Norton, (2001).
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