(London: John Sharpe, 1824).

Finely printed for John Sharpe by Charles Whittingham (in the same year that Charles Whittingham the uncle brought Charles Whittingham the nephew into the business as a partner). A lovely book-- printing and binding and illustrations all working well together.
Burns was in love with the beauty of Scottish songs. He considered it his patriotic duty to collect them. Most were collected for publication, but a few considered “not quite ladies reading” he kept privately for the enjoyment of himself and a few friends. Occasionally, Burns would rewrite the poems, sometimes to clean them up for publication, sometimes for his own amusement. After his death, the collection was published with no attempt to separate Burns’ work from the rest. Item #34897

With five engraved plates, one after Thomas Stothard, the others by R. Westall. 12mo, handsomely bound in contemporary three-quarter polished calf over marbled paper covered boards, the spine with raised bands finely decorated in gilt, the compartments of the spine with gilt central devices and two with red morocco lettering labels gilt. vii, 264 pp. A very well preserved and pleasing copy.