The letter was written by Hugh MacDiarmid on 30 August 1958 from 'Brownsbank', Candymill, Biggar, Lanarkshire. It is addressed to Dr. Ringsleben - Mary Ringsleben having been awarded her Ph.D. two years earlier in 1956 (Aberdeen).
MacDiarmid apologises for having 'retained your thesis so long'. He refers to having seen Dr. David Murison (deputy editor of the Scottish National Dictionary) in Edinburgh and that he had 'just missed you'. He describes the Ringsleben thesis as 'an excellent one and certainly the best thing written on Douglas by far'. He goes on to say that he is 'not going to make any little critical observations' apart from 'wishing to see it expanded and published'. Because it is 'on the short side for a book', he hopes she 'may decide to expand it'. MacDiarmid agrees 'in toto with all the main substance' of the study, and hopes that other subjects in Scots literature may attract her attention.