POEMS ASCRIBED TO ROBERT BURNS, The Ayrshire Bard

1801. Not Contained in Any Edition of His Works Hitherto Published. Glasgow, Printed by Chapman & Lang, for Thomas Stewart, Bookseller and Stationer, 1801. Early but not original green morocco-grain cloth.

First Edition of this early collection of 29 poems "not... hitherto published," spread over 94 pages. The word "ascribed" is key, because, in the preliminary three-page "Advertisement," it is noted that the poems are "presented to the Public without any _positive_ affirmation of their authenticity on the part of the Publisher." Egerer states that ten of the poems are actually first appearances of Burns poems -- those beginning on pages 46, 53, 59, 60, 62, 68, 74, 81, 82 and 91. There were two issues of this book, one advertised in the Glasgow Courier on 2 January 1801 and the other on 3 May 1801. This copy appears to be mixed-issue. On the one hand, the title page includes the date 1801 (and a short scrolled rule immediately above it), whereas some copies have neither. On the other hand, leaf G3 (pp 53-54) appears in its second state, with the Epigram beginning "Burns, accompanied by a friend...". The footnote on p. 75 appears in its longer form (precedence uncertain), with the extra clause "... in whose house Mr. Skinner first saw Burns's Poems." This title was originally issued in grey or marbled boards with a front-cover label; this copy was rebound, at an early stage, in plain green morocco-grain cloth (the spine reading "BURNS' POEMS" and at the top, the number 626); the edges of the leaves are speckled. Condition is essentially fine, with less foxing of the leaves than one would expect. Egerer 57; Gibson p. 9.