“A Literary Lounge”

In Literary Landmarks of Glasgow, 1898, James A. Kirkpartick names Chapter 14 “A Literary Lounge”. He wrote:

 

“Sixty years ago there was a group of young authors – bards, story-tellers, song-writers, and the like – who passed for the wits of the city, and affected in a small way the fine bohemianism of the literary salons. They met regularly in the publishing and bookselling house of David Robertson, 188 Trongate, and it was not long before these business premises had become a lounge for the entire literati of Glasgow. Far from resenting the intrusion of these young Bohemians, David Robertson largely encouraged their visits, for he was himself a kindred spirit, in full sympathy with any scheme for disseminating wholesome literature, and proud to have around him so many men of the poetic faculty and temperament.

 

“Here it was that William Motherwell, J. D. Carrick, Alexander Rodger, John Strang, Charles Mackay, and a host of others were wont to congregate, and there, in the midst of the little group, was David Robertson, beaming with joy at the sight of them, talking and laughing and shaking hands as proud of his coterie of friends as ever Madame Ancelot was of Alfred de Vigny, Octave Lacroix, Jenny Sabatier, Madame Rachel, and Alphonse Daudet in her charming salon in the Rue Saint Guillaume! For over twenty years this amiable bookseller and publisher gathered the leading spirits of St. Mungo around him, and out of these happy gatherings, at which literary projects were suggested and discussed, sprang the idea of compiling the universally known “Whistle Binkie” and “The Laird of Logan.” pages 206-7.