Tam O’Shanter

Printed for subscribers.  Circa 20pp, including six tissue-guarded engraved plate illustrations.  Quarter bound in publisher’s cloth over marbled paper boards.  Illustrated title page.  Large paper copy.  Elephant folio (approximately 17 inches tall).  Boards heavily worn, rubbed all round, rounded on corners, cloth fraying and split at spine ends, shelf worn with some minor staining.  Front free endpaper has flat crease.  Some minor spotting and soiling to page edges.  Transparent tape around edges of pastedown which appear to be part of the  original binding.  Musty.

The six plates and the title page vignette are after drawings by John Faed.  Three different engravers worked on their production.  The title was prepared for the Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland for circulation among its members only.   The Society, a somewhat ususual beast, had been established in 1833. It charged its members a subscription fees and the funds were then used to buy or commission modern art which was distributed to members by lot.  Sufficient copies of this edition of Tam O’ Shanter were produced to furnish each member with a copy.