James Watson’s Choice Collection is the first known printed collection of Older Scots verse and as such a milestone in Scottish literary history

This eclectic mixture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century pieces along with some earlier works, has examples from many key genres in Scottish literary history, such as the beast poem, the mock testament, the elegy, the “peasant brawl” poem, and the drinking song. Harriet Harvey Wood’s commentary provides considered textual analysis of all the pieces in a fascinating collection which suggests links both back to Dunbar and Lyndsay, and forward to Burns and Garioch.