David Herd (1732–10 June 1810) was a noted Scottish

anthologist In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

of songs and

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

Biography

Herd was born in Balmakelly in the parish of

Marykirk Marykirk ( gd, Obar Luathnait) is a village in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, next to the border with Angus at the River North Esk. The village is approximately 6 miles ENE of Montrose at the southern end of the Ho ...

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the Stewartry"), is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and w ...

in 1732 to Margaret Herd (née Low) (1691–1751) and John Herd, a farmer. The child David was baptised on 23 October 1732. Later in life he became clerk to an accountant in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where he became a well-known figure among the literary men. He devoted his leisure to collecting old Scottish

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s and songs. In 1769 he published his first compilation of nearly 60 'heroic ballads' and 300 songs as '' Ancient Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc.'' Later enlarged editions appeared in 1776 and 1791. Herd was a member and Sovereign (president) of the

Edinburgh Cape Club The Edinburgh Cape Society is a convivial Edinburgh tavern-based society which was first established in the 18th century. It is one of many Convivial Edinburgh Societies which were extant in the 18th century, but the only (known) one which surviv ...

, a tavern based convivial society with members including the painters

Alexander Nasmyth Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants li ...

Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a fo ...

and

Alexander Runciman Alexander Runciman (15 August 1736 – 4 October 1785) was a Scottish painter of historical and mythological subjects. He was the elder brother of John Runciman, also a painter. Life He was born in Edinburgh, and studied at the Foulis Acade ...

(a close friend of Herd's), as well as John Wotherspoon (the printer of Herd's book) and

Deacon William Brodie William Brodie (28 September 1741 – 1 October 1788), often known by his title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a housebreaker, partly for ...

. Herd was also friendly with

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, who made use of Herd's manuscript collections in his collection of ballads, the ''

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' is an anthology of Border ballads, together with some from north-east Scotland and a few modern literary ballads, edited by Walter Scott. It was first published in 1802, but was expanded in several later ...

''. Herd died at Potterrow, Edinburgh on 10 June 1810 and was buried in the

Buccleuch Parish Church St Andrew's Orthodox Church is an Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox church located in the Southside, Edinburgh, Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh’s Orthodox community was founded in 1948 and has, since 2013, occupied the former Buccleu ...

yard.

Notes

References

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External links

*Digitised copy of the 1st edition o
Ancient and modern Scottish songs, heroic ballads, etc
by David Herd, printed 1769. From

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. JPEG, PDF, XML versions. *Digitised copy of the revised and expanded 2nd edition o
Ancient and modern Scottish songs, heroic ballads, etc
in 2 volumes by David Herd, printed 1776. From National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, XML versions. {{DEFAULTSORT:Herd, David 1732 births 1810 deaths Anthologists Scottish writers about music Scottish folk-song collectors