"This uncomatable Book": New Evidence of the Circulation and Reception of the Poetry of James VI/I

This essay examines manuscript additions to a copy of the first printed work by James VI/I, The Essayes of a Prentise, in the Divine Art of Poesie (1584), held in Winchester College Fellows' Library. This copy, which has not previously been studied, contains a manuscript supplement of three poems by James that were not printed during his lifetime, as well as a unique sonnet in praise of the king and a small set of marks of reading. The essay reassesses the picture that has emerged of the circulation of James's poetry in manuscript in light of the evidence provided by the Winchester copy of the Essayes. It also sheds light on the response to the Essayes among Scottish readers through an examination of the panegyric sonnet and marks of reading.