Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect by…
April 1787 CE
Known as the Kilmarnock volume, it sells for 3 shillings and contains much of his best writing, including "The Twa Dogs", "Address to the Deil", "Halloween", "The Cotter's Saturday Night", "To a Mouse", "Epitaph for James Smith", and "To a Mountain Daisy", many of which had been written at Mossgiel farm.
The success of the work is immediate, and soon he is known across the country.
Burns had postponed his planned emigration to Jamaica on September 1, and is at Mossgiel two days later when he learns that Jean Armour had given birth to twins.
On September 4 Thomas Blacklock had written a letter expressing admiration for the poetry in the Kilmarnock volume, and suggesting an enlarged second edition.
On November 27, 1786 Burns had borrowed a pony and set out for Edinburgh.
On December 14 William Creech had issued subscription bills for the first Edinburgh edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, which is published on April 17, 1787.
Within a week of this event, Burns had sold his copyright to Creech for one hundred guineas.
For the edition, Creech had commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to paint the oval bust-length portrait now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which was engraved to provide a frontispiece for the book.
Nasmyth had come to know Burns and his fresh and appealing image has become the basis for almost all subsequent representations of the poet.
In Edinburgh, he is received as an equal by the city's men of letters and is a guest at aristocratic gatherings, where he bears himself with unaffected dignity.
Here he encounters, and makes a lasting impression on, the sixteen-year-old Walter Scott, who will describe him later with great admiration.
People
Regions
North Europe
View →Subregions
