[Printed handbill poem by 'B. B.'] On a favourite Dog, interred in the Grounds of Dryburgh Abbey, MDCCCXIV. [With Victorian photograph of a dog.]

Poem: On one side of a piece of 12mo paper. Fair, lightly-aged and a little ruckled, with traces of gum from previous mounting on the blank reverse. The 12-line poem is written in heroic couplets, and begins 'POOR, faithful animal, adieu! - | To Nature's kind affection true, | For fourteen years, thy grateful heart, | Devoted, play'd its humble part.' At the end a contemporary hand has ascribed the poem to 'B. B.', and the same hand gives the date as 'September 3d'. No record of the poem has been discovered, and there is no copy listed on COPAC, or in the catalogue of the National Library of Scotland. It is possible that the poem has been removed from a volume, but it is more likely that it is a handbill production of the private press of the eccentric 11th Earl of Buchan. Photograph: Cut into an oval 4.5 cm wide and 6 cm high. Sepia profile image of a pug dog, seated on its hind legs. Lightly stained.