Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, finely bound in full calf, retaining the original boards.
Edinburgh and London: Printed for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, and William Creech, 1798. Leather. This 1798, two-volume “New edition, considerably enlarged” was an expansion of the Edinburgh edition of 1787 produced by William Creech. The set was originally issued “trimmed, in contemporary calf.” This set retains original, brown, speckled calf boards, each gilt-bordered and with gilt-decorated edges, skillfully rebacked with spines of brown polished calf. The spines feature compartments separated by double gilt rules, a dark brown gilt-printed and decorated label in the second compartment, volume number in the fourth compartment, and gilt devices in the other four compartments. The contents retain original marbled endpapers and speckled edges.
Condition is very good overall. The bindings are square, clean, and tight. The polished calf spines show only light, superficial scuffing and minor edge chipping to the Volume 2 spine label. The original boards, as might be expected, show some superficial scuffs, general edgewear, and loss of original border gilt. The contents are notably clean. We find no previous ownership marks. Appreciable spotting is minimal, appearing confined to the Volume 1 half-title and frontispiece. The preliminary blanks of both volumes show a small paperclip stain at the top edge center. Each pastedown shows scarring consonant with bookplate removal.
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 eventually spawned this 1798 edition a dozen years later 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 1798 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 was already dead when this 1798 edition was published. Burns died aged 37, in July 1796.
References: Egerer 35 (also referencing Egerer 2); PMM 373; ODNB. Item #008586
Price: $950.00