Poems

Edinburgh: Walter & Thomas Ruddiman, 1773. First Edition. Very good +. 12mo, 7 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (196 x 117 mm); iv, 132 pp. Title with engraved vignette of a man overlooking a Scottish scene. Handsome later binding by Maclehose, Glasgow, brown calf with elaborate gilt decorations and fillets, gilt spine with five raised bands, gilt dentelles on turn-ins, marbled endpapers, t.e.g., rest uncut; original wrappers bound in, slightly rubbed at joints and end, occasional minor spotting.
[Fairley 5; Tinker 1032; ESTC T75316]. This is the FIRST EDITION OF ROBERT FERGUSSON'S POEMS in a very attractive binding. It presents poems in both English (1-84) and Scots (80-121) and includes a Glossary of Scots words contained in the poems. Edinburgh-born bohemian poet ROBERT FERGUSSON (1750 - 1774) had contributed poems to publisher Walter Ruddiman's Weekly Review from 1771 and being well received the publisher issued his collection of poems in 1773, selling some 500 copies. His career was short-lived however and he died aged 24 after sustaining a head injury. A second edition of the poems was published posthumously in 1779 [Fairley 12]; the copy offered here is a TRUE FIRST EDITION. Despite his early death Fergusson is considered a master of the Scots vernacular and a key figure in Scottish enlightenment. His pastoral and satirical nationalist style was much admired by Robert Burns, who privately commissioned, designed, and paid for a headstone to mark his grave. Fergusson is one of sixteen Scottish writers recognized on the Scott Memorial in Edinburgh.