David Burnett - Poet - Scottish Poetry Library

POEMS BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfred David Burnett was born in Edinburgh, but his childhood was spent near Hyderabad, India, where his father was superintendent of His Exalted Highness, The Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway.

He returned to Edinburgh with his mother and brother after the war and was educated at George Watson’s School before studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, where he was awarded the Patterson Bursary in Anglo-Saxon.

In 1959 Burnett began his career as a librarian, first at the University of Glasgow Library, specialising in olden books and manuscripts, winning the Kelso Memorial prize in bibliography, 1964, the same year he moved to Durham.

Burnett worked as a librarian at the University of Durham until he retired in the 1990s. Whilst there he was awarded the Library Association Essay Prize in 1966, the Sevensma prize from the International Federation of Library Associations in 1971 and a Panizzi Medal by the British Library.

In Durham, Burnett was responsible for exhibitions focusing on the work of numerous writers, including fellow poets such as Basil Bunting and Ian Hamilton Finlay. In 1975, he co-founded Colpitts Poetry, which brought Durham to be a hub for live poetry readings and helped foster a broad community for writing in the area.

Outwith his own poetry, Burnett has written and edited a variety of papers and books, including a selection of Andrew Young’s poems, Crystal and Flint (Snake River Press, 1991), Temenos, poems by John Meade Falkner (Tragara Press, 1993), Arabic Resources Acquisition and Management in British Libraries (Mansell, 1986) and, A Thinker For All Seasons- Sir Francis Bacon and His Significance Today (New Century Press, 2000).

Returning to Edinburgh in 2009, he has continued to write.

Burnett’s collection of modern British wood engravings is in the Yale Center for British Art and his publications archive, papers and correspondence are in the Beinecke, the rare books and manuscripts division of Yale University Library.

Selected Bibliography

Mandala (London: Magpie Press, 1967)
Diversities (London: Magpie Press, 1968)
A Ballad Upon A Wedding (London: Magpie Press, 1969)
Columbaria (London: Literary Editions, 1971)
Shimabara (Hereford: Pointing Finger Press, 1972)
Thirty Snow Poems (North Gate Press, 1973)
Fescennines (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1973)
The True Vine, with wood engravings by Joan Hassall (Leyton: Hedgehog Press, 1975)
Hero and Leander, with wood engravings by Richard Shirley Smith (Oxford: University Press, 1975)
He and She (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1976)
The Heart’s Undesign (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1977)
Figures and Spaces (Hereford: Pointing Finger Press, 1978)
Jackdaw, with wood engravings by Kirill Sokolov (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1980)
Thais (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1981)
Romans (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1983)
Vines, with wood engravings by Richard Shirley Smith (Abingdon: The Rocket Press, 1984)
Autolycus (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1987)
Kantharos, with wood engravings by Frank Martin (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1989)
Pharos, with a woodcut by Frank Martin (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1989)
Lesbos, with wood engravings by Frank Martin (Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1990)
Mirror and pool: translations from the Chinese with John Cayley, illustrated by Bronwen Borrow (London: Wellsweep, 1991)
Nine Poets, with wood engravings by Simon Brett (Self published, 1993)
The Olive of Odysseus- Function and Form in Poetry (Durham: New Century Press, 1993)
The Island- A Poem, with woodcuts by Inger Lawrance (Berwick-on-Tweed: Windmill Hole Studio, 1994)
Something of myself (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1994)
Twelve Poems, with wood engravings by Sister Margaret Tournour (Bath: The Old School Press, 1994)
Transfusions: Poems from the French (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cloudforms, 1995)
Six Poems, with wood engravings by Sister Margaret Tournour (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1995)
Hokusai- A Poem, with Linocuts by Hui Fang Lee (Oldham: Incline Press, 1996)
Chesil Beach, with wood engravings by Christopher Wormell (Bath: The Old School Press, 1997)
Goat’s Beard, with wood engravings by Sister Margaret Tournour (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1998)
Akhmatova, with wood engravings by Christopher Daunt (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 1998)
A Thinker For All Seasons- Sir Francis Bacon (Durham: New Century Press, 2000)
Boxwood and Graver, with wood engravings by Sister Margaret Tournour (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 2000)
Butterflies, with illustrations by Rosemary Roberts (Wass: The Celtic Cross Press, 2000)
Cinara, with wood engravings by Frank Martin (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 2001)
Evergreens, with two woodcuts by Inger Lawrence (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 2002)
Quoins For The Chase (Durham: New Century Press, 2003)
Twelve Women (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 2004)
Despatches, with wood engravings by Richard Shirley Smith (Durham: Black Cygnet Press, 2006)
Snowfalls, with a wood-engraving by Ian Stephens (Edinburgh: Black Cygnet Press, 2010)
Slingshots (Edinburgh: Black Cygnet Press, 2011)
Underwoods (Marlborough: Libanus, 2013)
Gettysburg : November nineteenth 1863 (Edinburgh: Black Cygnet Press, 2015)
Men & Women (Marlborough: Libanus, 2016)
Persephone : a Delphic Spring (Durham: New Century Press, 2019)
Quoins for the chase II (Durham: New Century Press, 2021)

Further Information

There is a site devoted to his work, though Burnett himself does not use the internet.

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Selected Bibliography

Further Information