\"Horae Subsecivae\" John Brown Signed 2.5X4.75 Envelope Mounted For Sale

Up for sale "Horae Subsecivae" John Brown Signed 2.5X4.75 Envelope Mounted. 

physician and essayist best known for his three-volume Hours, 1858), which included essays and

papers on art, medical history and biography. Of the first, his dog story

"Rab and his Friends"

(1859), and his essays "Pet Marjorie" (1863), on Marjorie Fleming, the ten-year-old prodigy and alleged

"pet" of Walter Scott, "Our

Dogs", "Minchmoor", and "The Enterkine" are best

known. are best known. Brown was half-brother to the organic chemist Alexander Crum Brown. Brown

was the son of the clergyman John Brown (1784–1858),

born in Biggar, Scotland. His

mother, Jane Nimmo, died when he was six years old.

Brown, who was descended from eminent Presbyterian clergy, was educated at the Edinburgh High School.

He graduated with an M. D. from the University of Edinburgh in

1833, and practised as a physician in the city. After qualifying, he was

apprenticed to James Syme. Brown

subsequently acquired a large medical practice in Edinburgh at a time when

infectious diseases took a heavy toll of life. Brown was a sociable man: his

house at 23 Rutland Street was the scene of many social gatherings. In 1840 he

married Catherine Scott McKay. They had three children, a baby who died shortly

after birth (a girl), a daughter, Helen, who was to marry Captain Alexander

Laws, and a son "Jock" Brown. Helen Laws moved to Ireland and

outlived her father. However, Jock was to survive into the 20th century and

worked hard to pay tribute to his father, collecting all his letters, and

working to erect a plaque on his house. which remains to this day. In 1847 Brown became

a Fellow of the Royal College

of Physicians of Edinburgh, and for a while was Honorary Librarian.

He held strong views on the inappropriateness of examinations for evaluating

student progress and was unimpressed by the view that scientific advances were

in patients' best interests. Brown was the friend of many Twain. His reputation is based on the two volumes of

essays, Horae Subsecivae (Leisure Hours) (1858,

1861), John Leech and Other Papers (1882), Rab and His Friends (1859),

and Marjorie Fleming: a Sketch (1863) (generally called Pet

Marjorie). His first writing was in response to a request for contributions

to the notices of paintings exhibited by the Royal Scottish Academy.

The editor of the Scotsman newspaper then asked him to write

regularly for the paper. He was 48 years old when he published Rab and

His Friends. His writings were philosophical, classical, artistic, medical, of rural life, the Jacobite Rebellion,

notable characters, humble folk and canine friends. These were published as a

collection in 1858 as Horæ Subsecivæ, which ran to many editions.

The first volume deals mainly with the equipment and duties of a physician, the

second with subjects outside his profession. Brown was revered and beloved to

uncommon degree, and he was the cherished friend of many distinguished

contemporaries, including Thackeray. Among those whose writing he

encouraged was Henrietta Keddie, then a

schoolgirl in Leith, who would become a prolific novelist and writer for

children. In the mingling of tenderness and delicate

humour, Brown has much in common with Lamb; in his insight into dog-nature he

is unique. He wrote comparatively little; but all he wrote is good, some of it

perfect of its kind. Brown suffered during the latter years of his life from

attacks of melancholy. He died at

home at 23 Rutland Street in Edinburgh. on 11 May 1882, and was buried in his

father's plot in New Calton Cemetery The

grave lies on the western side on the edge of one of the terraces. The inscription

to John and the base and are largely obscured, but it is confirmed by his

mother's name above.