Letter, 1959, from Alexander Gray to Archibald H. Campbell

The letter, dated 21 May 1959, is to 'My dear Archie', Archibald H. Campbell. It accompanied a copy of Selected poems 'put together by Maurice Lindsay' in Gray's 'pre-Danish Days'. The letter also refers to a copy of Sir Halewyn, and to various of his 'signature tunes'.

Alexander Gray was born on 6 January 1882 and spent his childhood in Dundee. He was educated at Dundee High School, and then studied at Edinburgh University. He also studied at Göttingen and at the Sorbonne.

In 1921 he was appointed professor of Political Economy at Aberdeen University, and in 1934 he took up the equivalent post at Edinburgh University's School of Economics. He retired in 1956. During both World Wars, Gray worked for the Civil Service - in the 1914-18 War producing propaganda .

In addition to his economics titles, Gray was an active composer and translator of poetry. His work consisted of original poems written in English, and translations of the folk and ballad poetry of Germany and Denmark into Scots. His translations into Scots constitute the greater part of his work, and is the main basis for his reputation.

Professor Sir Alexander Gray CBE, FRSE, died on 17 February 1968.

Archibald Hunter Campbell was born 21 May 1902 in Edinburgh. He was educated at George Watson's College in the city, at Edinburgh University, and then at University College, Oxford. In 1935 he was appointed Professor of Jurisprudence at Birmingham University, and during the Second World War he was summoned into service at Bletchley Park. After the war he returned to Edinburgh and to the University's Regius Chair of Public Law and the Law of Nature and the Nations which he held from 1945 to 1972. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law, 1958-64.

Professor Archibald Hunter Campbell died in Edinburgh 8 June 1989.

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The letter had been placed inside a copy of Selected poems of Alexander Gray by Maurice Lindsay and Archibald H. Campbell, shelfmark RB.S.3032.

Accession no: E2015.63.