- Museum number
- 1992,0406.46
- Description
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Burns, Robert. Poems and Songs. Illustrated with numerous engravings. London: Bell and Daldy, 186, Fleet Street; Edinburgh: J. Menzies, 1858. London: Printed by Richard Clay, Bread Street Hill. xvi, 272p. The monogram of Joseph Cundall is printed on the verso of the title page. The frontispiece plate is signed: “B. Foster” and E. Evans. The caption is in verse: “/ As I gaed down the water-side,/ There I met my shepherd lad,/ He row’d me sweetly in his plaid,/ An’ he called me his dearie./” The illustration on page 58 is signed: “S. Edmonston”. In the [list of] Illustrations, the artists are stated to be: C. W. Cope [ i.e. Charles West Cope], Harrison Weir [i.e. William Harrison Weir], J. C. Horsley [i.e. John Callcott Horsley], Birket Foster [i.e. Myles Birket Foster], J. Archer [i.e. James Archer], S. Edmonston [i.e. probably Samuel Edmonston], George Thomas, Alex. Johnston [i.e. Alexander Johnston], J. Drummond [i.e. James Drummond], F. W. Topham [i.e. Francis William Topham]. The engravers are listed as: E. Evans[ i.e. Edmund Evans], Hammond, J. Cooper [i.e. James Davis Cooper], T. Bolton [i.e. Thomas Bolton], J. Greenaway [i.e. John Greenaway], W. Wright [i.e. possibly John William Wright], H. Harral [i.e. Horace Harral], W. J. Linton [i.e. William James Linton]. The ornaments and tail-pieces [by] W. H. Rogers [ i.e. William Harry Rogers], engraved by Edmund Evans. Robin de Beaumont's notes regarding price and dating of this copy are written on the front endpaper verso, and on a separate paper slip. He states in his notes that this is “Albert Warren signed binding”. The bookplate of Robin de Beaumont is on the front paste down.
Binding: Gilt edges. Bevelled boards. Yellow endpapers and pastedowns. . Binder’s ticket on lower pastedown: “/ Leighton/ Son &/ Hodge./ Shoe Lane/ London/” [Ball no. 53A.] Red morocco horizontal-grain cloth. Both covers are blocked identically, in blind and in relief on the lower, and in gold and in relief on the upper. The design is "Renaissance panel". There is a horizontal hatch fillet blocked in gold on the borders, with clasps on each corner. Roundels and scrollwork are blocked on the corners in gold and in relief. Cartouches are blocked on the sides, the head and the tail in gold and in relief, with stem a leaf decoration blocked in relief within them. Plant stem and leaf decoration is blocked in relief between all the above. The central rectangle has two fillets blocked in hatch gold on its perimeter, with a pattern of repeating diamonds between the fillets. The central oval has a border of scrollwork. The words:"/ Poems/ and/ songs/ by/ Robt. Burns/" are blocked in relief within the central oval – all surrounded by filigree work picked out in relief. The spine is blocked in gold and in relief. A single gold fillet is blocked on its perimeter, together with a gold hatch fillet. At the head and at the tail, a single roundel is blocked, with the same design as for the upper cover. The oval panel near the middle of the spine is a gold lettering-piece, in which the words: “/ Poems/ and/ songs/ Robt Burns/” are blocked in relief – all surrounded by filigree work blocked in relief. Below this oval, a cartouche is blocked, the same as for the upper cover.
- Production date
- 1858
- Dimensions
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Height: 232 millimetres
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Thickness: 37 millimetres
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Width: 180 millimetres
- Curator's comments
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The British Library copy is at shelf mark 1347.h.6. It has the original lower cover of brown pebble-grain cloth, used as a doublure.
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For descriptive details of the binder’s ticket, see: Ball, Douglas. ‘Victorian publishers’ bindings’. (London, Library Association, 1985), Appendix E, ‘Nineteenth Century Edition binders’ Signatures’, p. 181.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Poems and Songs.
- Acquisition date
- 1992
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1992,0406.46
