The Works.

"The most sumptuous yet published"; extra-illustrated

First William Scott Douglas edition, here handsomely bound and abundantly extra-illustrated, described by ODNB as a "splendid, six-volume library edition. The poems in this edition are arranged chronologically, and while it was the most sumptuous yet published it was also the most complete and correct regarding both text and notes".

Douglas (1815-1883) "worked as a mercantile accountant, like his father before him, but in his leisure time he put much effort into studying the life and works of Burns, acquiring perhaps a more thorough mastery of them than any previous editor of Burns's works" (ibid.). A number of the original illustrations are by William Forrest, who specialized in landscapes, after Samuel Bough, "one of the most influential figures in the development of nineteenth-century Scottish landscape painting... who enjoyed tremendous popularity as an artist" (National Galleries Scotland). The additional illustrations comprise engravings from around the 1830s and 1840s, including engraved landscapes and city views by Scottish artist David Octavius Hill, captioned scenes from the poetry by the prominent Burns illustrator John Masey Wright, and portraits by various artists.