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Burns, Robert; Bewick, Thomas.
The Poetical Works of Robert Burns; with his life.
Publisher: William Davison, Alnwick;
Date of Publication: 1808
Stock Code: 15018
Second edition thus, published in the same year as the first, with additional cuts from the Bewick workshop. Two volumes in one, with independent title-pages, pagination, and signatures. Foolscap octavo, pp., 266; 270. With 9 full-page cuts, including oval portrait of Burns, and 25 head- and tailpieces to vol. 1; 5 full-page cuts, and 22 head- and tailpieces to vol. 2, as called for. Near contemporary green full morocco, spine on five raised bands, ornamented and lettered in gilt to compartments; rolls and fillets in panel design to boards; gilt rolls to edges and turn-ins; all edges gilt; marbled end-papers. Very occasional annotations in a contemporary hand. Some rubbing to joints and extremities. Loss to foot of p.162 to vol. I, affecting margin only, light scattered foxing to a few leaves in vol. 2. A very good copy in an attractive binding. The last Davison edition printed with letterpress rather than stereotype, retaining all the Bewick workshop cuts from the first, and adding additional vignettes. The cuts originate from the Bewick workshop, with contributions from two of Bewick’s apprentices: Edward Wells and Henry White. Burns must have enjoyed some popularity in Alnwick, as Davison issued four editions of this book, this being the second thus, and the first following the dissolution of his partnership with Jemmy Catnatch in 1808.
£185.00