The Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous
Literature (1882-88) was compiled by two Scottish librarians, Samuel Halkett
and John Lang. Their entry for Lives of Scottish Poets is
sourced to the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, where Halkett had been keeper from
1848. The attribution to “Joseph Robertson” has been widely adopted by
cataloguers, though it seems worthless since no particular Joseph Robertson is
specified.
My best guess is that the intended reference is to Joseph Clinton
Robertson (1788-1852), the “Sholto Percy” of the Percy
Anecdotes (1821-23) published, like the Lives, by the firm of T. Boys.
Robertson, though a London journalist, was born in Scotland and may well have been
involved with the project.
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Samuel Halkett, John Laing.
A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of
Great Britain.
Edinburgh: 1883.
Vol. II. pp. 1501-02.
Lives of Scottish Poets, by the Society of Ancient Scots,
re-established A. D. ![]()
1770. [By Joseph Robertson.] 3
volumes.
London 1821-22. Duodecimo.* [Adv. Lib.]