Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect

First edition cover, circa 1786.
Author	Robert Burns
Original title	Kilmarnock Edition
Country	Scotland
Language	Scots
Genre	Poetry and Lyrics
Publisher	John Wilson of Kilmarnock
Publication date	1786

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, commonly known as the Kilmarnock Edition, is a collection of poetry by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, first printed and issued by John Wilson of Kilmarnock on 31 July 1786.^[1] It was the first published edition of Burns' work. It cost three shillings and 612 copies were printed. The volume was dedicated to Gavin Hamilton.

Besides satire, the Kilmarnock volume contains a number of poems such as "Halloween" (written in 1785), "The Twa Dogs" and "The Cotter's Saturday Night", which are vividly descriptive of the Scots peasant life with which Burns was most familiar; and a group such as "Puir Mailie" and "To a Mouse", which, in the tenderness of their treatment of animals, revealed one of the most attractive sides of Burns' personality. Six of the original manuscript versions of the poems from the book are in the possession of the Irvine Burns Club.

In 1787, Burns travelled to Edinburgh with the intention of organizing a second edition and, after being introduced to publisher William Creech and printer William Smellie, 3,000 copies of the Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh Edition) were published in April 1787.

Facsimiles

Only 612 copies of the Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect were printed by John Wilson in 1786 and the publisher James McKie saw that most collectors of Robert Burns's works would be unable to acquire a copy and to satisfy this demand and satisfy his own interests as an admirer of Burns he produced the first facsimile edition for collectors in 1867 in a print run of 600 copies.^[2] These facsimiles were in original style boards, signed by James McKie.

A miniature facsimile issued in a protective case with a magnifying glass in the 1890s and was of benefit to troops in the trenches in World War I due to its protective case and convenient size.

Contents

Source:^[3]

1. The Twa Dogs, a Tale
2. Scotch Drink
3. The Author's earnest cry and prayer, to the right honorable and honorable, the Scotch representatives in the House of Commons
4. The Holy Fair
5. Address to the Deil
6. The death and dying words of Poor Maillie
7. Poor Mallie's Elegy
8. To J. S****
9. A Dream
10. The Vision
11. Halloween
12. The auld Farmer's new-year-morning Salutation, to his auld Mare, Maggy, on giving her the accustomed ripp of Corn to hansel in the new year
13. The Cotter's Saturday Night, inscribed to R. A. Esq
14. To a Mouse, on turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November, 1785
15. Epistle to Davie, a brother Poet
16. The Lament, occasioned by the unfortunate issue of a friend's amour
17. Despondency, an Ode
18. Man was made to mourn, a Dirge
19. Winter, a Dirge
20. A Prayer in the prospect of Death
21. To a Mountain-Daisy, on turning one down, with the Plough, in April, 1786
22. To Ruin
23. Epistle to a young Friend
24. On a Scotch Bard gone to the West Indies
25. A Dedication to G. H. Esq
26. To a Louse, on seeing one on a Lady's bonnet at Church
27. Epistle to J. L*****k, an old Scotch Bard
28. Epistle to the same
29. Epistle to W. S*****n, Ochiltree
30. Epistle to J. R******, enclosing some Poems
31. Song, It was upon a Lammas night
32. Song, Now westlin winds, and flaught'ring guns
33. Song, From thee, Eliza, I must go
34. The Farewell
35. Epitaphs and Epigrams
36. A Bard's Epitaph