Caledonia,

Edinburgh: Printed by the Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, 1706. First edition. Folio. [10], 60 pp. COLLATION: 2 ¶2 2¶1 A-P2. Modern three-quarter red morocco, arms of the Earl of Perth stamped in gilt on front cover; near fine, with a small piece from the lower corner of the title-page, not affecting the text First edition of Defoe's lengthy poem in praise of Scotland, written to promote union when Defoe was chief propagandist and agent in Scotland for Northern Secretary Robert Harley. "[Defoe’s] Caledonia, a sixty-page poem published in 1706 with a grant from the Scottish privy council, celebrates Scottish history and a number of its most illustrious and historically important families" (ODNB). The poem is addressed to Scotland's landed gentry, of whom 84 were subscribers to the first edition; the present copy was in the possession of the Earls of Perth, Stobhall.Foxon notes copies with paper watermarked with French arms (D90) or, as in the present copy, Amsterdam arms and fool's cap (D91). He tentatively identifies the later as being fine paper copies with the caveat that "it has been impossible to decide with certainty which watermarks represent the better paper." In any case, a large-margined and crisp copy.PROVENANCE: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire (by descent, with gilt monogram of the Earls of Perth on front cover)REFERENCE: ESTC T55494; Foxon D91 ("fine paper?"); Furbank & Owens 84; McLeod & McLeod, Anglo-Scottish Tracts, 1701-1714, no. 49; Moore 129