Robert Burns | Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. Kilmarnock, 1786, near-contemporary half calf

Robert Burns

Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. Kilmarnock: John Wilson, 1786

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (211 x 131mm.), title within typographic border, typographic head- and tailpieces, 5pp. glossary, near-contemporary half calf over marbled boards, yellow edges, title a bit spotted, small repaired closed tears at outer margins of contents leaf and p. 154 (not affecting text), otherwise a very good copy 

ONE OF THE GREATEST RARITIES OF SCOTTISH LITERATURE. This book was published on 31 July 1786 in an edition of 612, of which 350 copies went to subscribers; the edition sold out by September, leaving Burns with a substantial profit—he claimed to have made £20 but the true figure was probably significantly higher. The quality of the printing and the lack of errors in the Kilmarnock Burns has been remarked upon, especially given that Wilson was a jobbing printer who had only been active for six years and mostly produced cards, letterheads, and other ephemera. A second edition of 1000 copies was proposed in October but Wilson wanted an advance of £27 to cover the cost of the paper: "this you know is out of my power; so farewell hopes of a second edition till I grow richer!" (Burns to Aiken, ?8 October 1786).

See also lots 109 and 179.

LITERATURE

Egerer 1; Grolier English 61; PMM 231; Rothschild 555; Young and Scott, The Kilmnarnock Burns: a Census, 1931

PROVENANCE

Hunter Blair Bart., Blairquhan, engraved armorial bookplate; sale, M’Tear, Glasgow, 30 January 1931, £1,050, bought by Mr. Hugh Hopkins