Books

First Essex House Press edition, number 30 of 150 copies only, each printed on vellum and hand-coloured. This copy is from the library of renowned book collector John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), whose early collecting focussed on the private press movement. Burns's iconic narrative poem was first published in the Edinburgh Herald and the Edinburgh Magazine in March 1791. This work is the seventh in the press's Great Poems Series. The Essex House Press was founded by Charles Robert Ashbee and Laurence Hodson following the closure of William Morris's Kelmscott Press in 1897 and "came from the heart of the arts and crafts movement" (Franklin, p. 64). Ashbee bought the Kelmscott Press's Albion printing presses after William Morris's death, and employed one of the Kelmscott compositors, Thomas Binning. In 1902 "a bindery was established in the Guild, under the direction of Annie Power, who had been a student of Douglas Cockerell" (Crawford, p. 400). The illuminated letters for this work were provided by Florence Kingsford Cockerell (1871-1949), one of the leading book illuminators of the English arts and crafts movement. Kingsford Cockerell studied calligraphy under Edward Johnston and predominantly worked for the Ashendene Press. Within his private press library John Roland Abbey amassed complete collections of the books of the Kelmscott, Ashendene, and Gregynog presses. This copy has his ownership inscription on the rear free endpaper verso noting the date of purchase as "18.6.1962". His bookplate is on the front pastedown alongside the later bookplate of the noted London lawyer and book collector Frank Robert "Bobby" Furber (1921-2016). Ashbee, A Bibliography of The Essex House Press, p. 17; Franklin p. 232; Ransom, Essex House Press 30. Alan Crawford, C. R. Ashbee: Architect, Designer & Romantic Socialist, 2005. Octavo. Original vellum, spine lettered in gilt, rose and "Soul is Form" blind-stamped on front cover. Printed in Caslon type. Wood-engraved frontispiece by William Strang, hand-coloured initials by Florence Kingsford Cockerell throughout. Boards starting to bow as often, central scratch to frontispiece, else contents bright and clean; a very good copy.

Tam o' Shanter is a narrative poem written by Robert Burns. First published in 1791, it tells the story of Tam, a farmer who encounters a disturbing scene of witches and warlocks.