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Jock Deans - street fish merchant

Holt, Edward P., 1871, Watercolour
Jock Deans - street fish merchant
Jock Deans - street fish merchant
Jock Deans - street fish merchant
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Category
Library Item
Item no
11313
Title
Jock Deans - Edinburgh street fish merchant
Description
A man wearing a blue tam-o'-shanter type of hat stands next to a wheelbarrow full of fish. He rests a patched knee on the green handle of the wheelbarrow. He has a crutch under one arm and holds a fish in his other hand.

The poet, Donald Campbell has written a poem inspired by this character by Holt:

Jock Deans

Here comes Jock - he's never late -
hobbling up the Canongate
to pitch his stall at St. John's pend,
where customers will congregate
to welcome back the housewives' friend
and buy his haddies, herring, skate -
with sweet wee garvies, penny a plate.
Families of slender mans
Must all give thanks to dear Jock Deans.

Note: Garvies were actually sprats, taking their name from the fact that they were usually caught off the island of Garvie in the Firth of Forth. Hawkers of fish, operating under a license from the Council, became popular because they sold fresh produce at fairly low prices.
Artist / maker
Date
1871
Size
22 x 18.5 cm
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG​
£7.32(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF​
£37.20(inc. VAT 20%)
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