Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in two volumes, each bound in full green calf by Riviere.
London and Edinburgh: T. Cadell and William Creech, 1794. Leather. This 1794, two-volume “New edition, considerably enlarged” was an expansion of the Edinburgh edition of 1787 produced by William Creech. This set is bound in full green polished calf by Riviere & Son. The bindings feature raised and gilt-decorated spine bands, gilt-tooled compartments, and twin red spine labels, each printed and ruled in gilt. The covers are bordered in double gilt rules with corner devices and both the spine ends and cover edges are gilt-hatched. The contents are bound with gilt top edges and marbled endpapers framed by gilt dentelle turn-ins. “BOUND BY RIVIERE & SON” is stamped on each lower front free endpaper verso. Helping date these bindings, the firm founded by Robert Riviere became Riviere & Son in 1880, persisting thus until 1939 when it was acquired by Bayntun.
The chief flaw of this set is full separation of the Volume I front cover. The bindings would otherwise be in very good minus condition, with no appreciable fading and moderate wear mostly confined to extremities, apart from a long, superficial scratch to the Volume II rear cover. The contents are very good plus, notably clean with no previous ownership marks, minimal spotting that is appreciable only to the Volume I frontispiece and facing title page, and modest age-toning. The fore and bottom edges remain untrimmed.
Of Burns, Printing and the Mind of Man asserted “There has never been a more truly national poet than Burns. Himself of humble origin he spoke the language of the people and his songs are part of the air breathed by Scots the world over. It has been said of the Lyrical Ballads that no clue can be gained from them that ‘men eat or drink, marry or are given in marriage’. None could say that of Burns. He may have gone to the other extreme, but his lyrics are as full of life as he was himself.”
The genesis of the 1786 British first edition that preceded this 1794 edition just eight years earlier substantiates the assertion of the poet’s intemperate vitality. As he was preparing this collection for publication, Burns was facing public censure, shielding his assets (such as they were), and planning emigration to Jamaica over the civil, criminal, and potential physical threats from the furious father of a young woman he had impregnated. In July 1786, publication of 44 poems in Scots and English in the Kilmarnock edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect had presented the author "as one who lacked 'all the advantages of learned art' and who, being 'Unacquainted with the necessary requisites for commencing Poet by rule', instead 'sings the sentiments and manners, he felt and saw in himself and his rustic compeers around him, in his and their native language'." Self-deprecation did not diminish the reception; the six hundred copies sold out in a month."
The book had won him intense local admiration among the common people and gentry, and Burns shelved his emigration plans. Of course he had to look further, to Edinburgh, for his second edition; the poet's refusal to settle a debt to the printer, John Wilson, resulted in the latter's refusal to print a second edition. That second edition fell to William Creech – also credited with the Edinburgh production of this 1794 edition. Creech initially proceeded in 1787 only upon securing a reassuring number of subscriptions and, when it was published, he specified “Subscribers will send for their copies, and none will be delivered without money.” As evidenced by his repeated publications of Burns, Creech made good business of the poet, producing successive editions based upon the 1787 Edinburgh edition, of which this is one. The poet himself was less fortunate in his affairs; Burns died, aged 37, in July 1796, not long after this edition was published.
References: Egerer 29 (also referencing Egerer 2); PMM 373; ODNB. Item #008569
Price: $350.00