Beside the bonnie briar bush

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1896. Limited printing. With frontispiece and 11 engraved plates. Original navy buckram, gilt lettering to spine; end-papers browned and spotted, but a very nice uncut and mostly unopened copy with a presentation inscription from the author's wife on the fly-leaf. Limited edition, number 279 of 415 copies printed on large paper. A collection of seven stories about Scottish rural life, the last entitled A doctor of the old school. The book was enormously popular in both Great Britain and America, and went through several translations (truncated) into the majority of the European languages

Watson (1850-1907) was a Scottish presbyterian who wrote literature under the pseudonym Ian Maclaren, and theological works under his true name. In Liverpool, he established one of the foremost congregations of the Presbyterian church. Because of the popularity of his books in America, he made two lecture tours. It was after delivering a lecture at Yale that he was awarded from them an honorary D.D. (Inventory #: 11865)