These manuscripts and typescripts represent Robert Alan Jamieson's work in this medium since the publication of his last volume of poems in 1986. They are intended for inclusion in a forthcoming collection, but have been compared with the published versions which have already appeared in periodicals, where this has been possible. As the collection itself has not yet been published, the main assessment of then has been a comparison between the various manuscript and typescript versions of each of the works, which are up to ten in number.

On this basis, the typescripts and manuscripts can be divided into two main groups. Around one half of them have no significant textual variations between any of the versions, and will, presumably, appear in the same form in the published collection.

In the remaining manuscripts and typescripts, a further quarter have only minor textual or typographic changes, but in the rest significant changes have been made which illustrate the various ways in which the poems have been re—worked and edited.

As in earlier works, the distinction between prose and poetry is not clear cut, and some pieces appear in both forms. In the case of 'From the Edge of the World', a prose version is broken up into verses, while in 'Sea, Change' various versions lead eventually to a prose—poem.

'Sea, Change', which was commissioned by 'The Independent Magazine', is also interesting in the way in which Shetlandic elements have been eroded, and are almost always anglicised in the published version. Shifts between Shetlandic and English are common, with many poems, such as 'Ootadaeks' , 'Return, Falcon' and "Worker's caravan Oil Boom Blues", being written in separate English and Shetlandic versions.

A small number of poems have a change in person 'Disabled seaman', for example, was published as 'The Washboard Apprentice' in the first person, and has been re—written in the third person. A few poems, such as 'A Thousand Times Unsaid' and "Philosopher's Staen" have related source material with them.

The typescript of the article 'That MacDiarmid Spirit is Willing Us On' has no variations from the published text, apart from the change in title.