Publishing

Finally, readers might be interested to know that in April 1786 Burns invited subscribers to cover the cost of publishing his ‘Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Robert Burns.’ This is described as ‘a blue-paper thin octavo volume’, which was issued to eager crowds of subscribers as fast as they could be made up. The typographers check-note of distribution shows the following list:-

	Copies
Mr Aitken, of Ayr	145
Robert Muir, Kilmarnock	72
Gilbert Burns, Mossgiel	70
James Smith, Mauchline	41
Gavin Hamilton, Mauchline	40
John Logan, Laight	20
John Kennedy, Dumfries House	20
Mr McWhinnie, Ayr	20
David Sillar, Irvine	14
William Niven, Maybole	7
Walter Morton, Cumnock	6
John Neilson, Cumnock	5
The Author	3
The Printer	70
Sundry Persons	67
TOTAL	600

These books sold for three shillings (15p) and Burns says in his autobiography that he cleared only £20 from this venture after paying costs. However, the copy account between Burns and the Printer shows Burns’ profits ought to have been over £50.