The Kilmarnock volume, also known as Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, — printed and issued by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, on 31 July 1786, was the first edition of poet Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

' work. It cost 3 s

Shilling

The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

 and 612 copies were printed. The volume was dedicated to Gavin Hamilton

Gavin Hamilton

Gavin Hamilton was an early modern Scottish prelate, coadjutor of the Archdiocese of St. Andrews, and Archbishop of St. Andrews.Gavin was the son of James Hamilton of Raploch. He had been Abbot of Kilwinning. In 1555, he was appointed as the coadjutor, i.e. successor, of Archbishop John Hamilton of...

. The Kilmarnock volume contained, besides satire, a number of poems like "Halloween

Halloween (poem)

"Halloween" is a poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1785. First published in 1786, the poem is included in the Kilmarnock volume...

" (written in 1785), "The Twa Dogs" and "The Cotter's Saturday Night," which are vividly descriptive of the Scots peasant life with which he was most familiar; and a group like "Puir Mailie" and "To a Mouse

To a Mouse

"To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in the Kilmarnock volume...

", which, in the tenderness of their treatment of animals, revealed one of the most attractive sides of Burns' personality.

External links

• Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing digital versions of the Kilmarnock edition