HOPE, A.D. — A Midsummer Eve's Dream: Variations on a Theme by William Dunbar.

The Viking Press, 1970. Hardcover. Examines "the background of 'The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo' by the fifteenth century Scottish poet, William Dunbar...Hope wanted to reconstruct the background to this entertaining and splendidly written piece, and his research led him along a number of intriguing paths. The fairy cult in Britain, and particularly in medieval Scotland, had a special fascination for him, as did the unusual sexual customs of the Scots. Both subjects are important in the elucidation of Dunbar's poem: perhaps the ladies are fairies, or related to the goddesses of the early Celts; perhaps they are ordinary Edinburgh housewives." Several light creases to dustjacket, otherwise good condition. 333pp. ISBN 0670474908.