Books

Newport, Rhode Island: Printed for John Brown & Co, 1870. American reprint of the Kilmarnock edition of the Poems of Robert Burns. Octavo, original publisher's quarter vellum over paper-covered boards. Presentation copy, inscribed on the pastedown, "Presented by Herman Melville to J.G. Hoadley Sept. 1870. -" Melville loved books as objects and frequently gave them to family members as Christmas or other gifts.  The presentation inscription itself is likely in the hand of Melville's wife. In good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. From the library of American bookseller and renowned Melville collector William S. Reese with his bookplate to the clamshell box. Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in…

This is one of the most famous collections of poetry by Robert Burns, which includes many of his most famous Scots verse and English-language poems.