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Robert Burns. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect...the second edition considerably enlarged. Edinburgh: Printed for ... (Total: 2 )
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Description
Presentation copy to the Earl of Glencairn
Robert Burns. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish
Dialect...the second edition considerably enlarged. Edinburgh:
Printed for T. Cadell, 1793.2 volumes, 12mo (192 x 109 mm). Half-titles. Early 19th-century full black morocco gilt, edges gilt.
Second edition, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY BURNS TO THE EARL OF GLENCAIRN on the verso of the half-title in Vol. I: "To the Right Honble. & Revd. [Jo]hn Earl of Glencairn -- / [a] small but sincere offering [inserted] of the / most grateful respect from-- / The Author."
John Cunningham, 15th Earl of Glencairn (1749 -1796) was a Scottish nobleman, cavalry officer, and finally a priest. The younger son of William Cunningham, 13th Earl of Glencairn (d. 1775) he succeeded his elder brother James, Burns's patron, to the estate. He was an officer in the 14th Regiment of Dragoons, but later took orders in the Church of England. He died at Coats House, then west of the city of Edinburgh, at the age of 47.
His older brother, James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn (1749 -1791), is best remembered as a close friend and patron of Robert Burns. He was instrumental in the production of the Second Edition of Burn's Poems.
Following the success of the Kilmarnock edition, Poems, Chiefly in the Scots Dialect (1786), Burns travelled to Edinburgh to arrange for the forthcoming second edition of his poetry. It was in Edinburgh that he was introduced to Glencairn who soon became a firm friend. The Earl's influence proved invaluable in acquiring subscriptions. Following James's death, Burns felt the loss of his friend keenly and sent these verses to Glencairn's sister Elizabeth in September 1791. Fittingly, 'Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn' was then published in Burns's Edinburgh edition of 1793.
When the 1793 edition of Burns's Poems was published, the poet presented his brother, the fifteenth Earl with this copy. AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY.
Condition: Minor wear to spine ends and extremities; joints and spine bands rubbed; a few scuffs. Lacking (or bound without) inserted frontispiece portrait; inscriptions slightly cropped at the time of binding; the occasional minor spot.
References: Egerer 25; ESTC T91542.
Provenance: James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn (presentation inscription in Vol. I); Miss Elizabeth [?]ugh (presentation inscription in Vol. I: "Lord Glencairn request [the] honor of presenting this [boo]k to Miss Elizabeth / [?]ugh, Treasurer & Librarian"); David Tennant, Esq. (his sale, Christie's, 2 December 1970, lot 167); purchased from George R. Minkoff, Inc., Great Barrington, MA, 1977. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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