Rare first edition of Robert Burns's Kilmarnock Edition to go under the hammer

A rare first edition of Robert Burns maiden poetry collection is to go under the hammer later this month in what has been described as an “extremely exciting” sale. 

The Kilmarnock Edition features scores of well known works by Scotland’s national bard, including To a Mouse, Address to the Deil, and Halloween, with its print run selling out within a few weeks of going on sale. 

Only 612 copies of his inaugural collection were originally published by the Ayrshire printer, John Wilson, who decided to take a risk on the budding poet’s literary talent. Nearly 250 years later, it is estimated that less than 90 copies of the famous first edition have survived. 

‘Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’, is nowadays regarded as one of the most important works in Scottish literature. It originally sold for just three shillings, but the rare example of the first edition has been valued at between £50,000 and £60,000 Lyon & Turnbull. 

The firm, which will put the Burns rarity up for sale at its books and manuscripts auction on 19 September, described it as one of the best known examples of Scotland’s cultural heritage. 

Cathy Marsden, head of rare books at Lyon & Turnbull, with the rare first edition of Robert Burns' poems. Picture: Stewart Attwood | Stewart Atwood

Burns, who started writing poetry around the age of 15, was 27 when the book was published. A significant number of poems in his first book were written at Mossgiel farm in Mauchline, where he lived and worked with his brother, Gilbert, between 1784 and 1788.  

One poem, The Belles of Mauchline, was inspired after a meeting with a group of six girls at the farm. They included Jean Armour, the daughter of a stonemason whom he described in the poem as the “jewel of them a,” would later become his wife, and together, they had nine children.

It was Burns’ desire to marry Jean, who was pregnant at the time, that led to the publication of this first volume of poetry. Her father vehemently opposed the marriage and Burns planned to emigrate to Jamaica. A local lawyer, Gavin Hamilton, suggested he finance the voyage through the publication of his poems. The success of the work was immediate and Burns abandoned his plans to leave Scotland.

The copy leading Lyon & Turnbull’s forthcoming specialist auction was rebound in the 19th century by the prestigious bookbinder, Bedford, in a beautiful green morocco gilt, replacing the original fragile paper covers; a common practice among bibliophiles of the day.

Cathy Marsden, head of books  and manuscripts at Lyon & Turnbull, said: “It is extremely exciting to come across one of the first edition copies of the single most famous volume in Scottish cultural heritage. From humble Ayrshire origins, Burns was to become an international literary star. Although very confident in his own abilities, even he could not have predicted such success.” 

Robert Burns, Scotland’s national bard, was born in the Ayrshire village of Alloway in 1759.

According to Allan Young’s The Kilmarnock Burns, there are 84 surviving copies of the Kilmarnock Edition, with 15 of them, including the copy set to go to auction, in private hands. The number of surviving copies was later revised to 88 in The Burns Chronicle, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2021.

Also included in the upcoming auction is an original manuscript copy of the National Covenant of Scotland for the burgh of Peebles, which is estimated to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000. One of the principal documents in the history of Scotland, the agreement was signed by thousands of Scots who opposed the English doctrinal changes imposed by Charles I on the Church of Scotland. There were widespread protests across the country with supporters later known as Covenanters.