The Works.

Edinburgh: William Paterson,, 1877-79. The most sumptuous yet published"; extra-illustrated First William Scott Douglas edition, here handsomely bound and abundantly extra-illustrated, described by ODNB as a "splendid, six-volume library edition. The poems in this edition are arranged chronologically, and while it was the most sumptuous yet published it was also the most complete and correct regarding both text and notes". Douglas (1815-1883) "worked as a mercantile accountant, like his father before him, but in his leisure time he put much effort into studying the life and works of Burns, acquiring perhaps a more thorough mastery of them than any previous editor of Burns's works" (ibid.). A number of the original illustrations are by William Forrest, who specialized in landscapes, after Samuel Bough, "one of the most influential figures in the development of nineteenth-century Scottish landscape painting... [who] enjoyed tremendous popularity as an artist" (National Galleries Scotland). The additional illustrations comprise engravings from around the 1830s and 1840s, including engraved landscapes and city views by Scottish artist David Octavius Hill, captioned scenes from the poetry by the prominent Burns illustrator John Masey Wright, and portraits by various artists. Six volumes, octavo (228 x 153 mm). Early 20th-century red half morocco by Root & Son, spines lettered in gilt, gilt thistle motifs to compartments, red cloth sides, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Engraved frontispiece to each volume (2 portraits of Burns, 4 landscapes), 11 engraved plates (6 as oval vignettes facing frontispieces), 2 maps, 11 facsimile examples of handwriting; each title with vignette of Erato (Muse of lyric poetry) by R. Anderson after George Clark Stanton; additionally extra-illustrated with 118 further plates. A fine set. Egerer 783; G. Ross Roy Collection pp. 136 and 332 (Nichol).