Tall 8vo., publisher's printed gray boards reprinting a modified version of the title-page (the cover quotes excerpts from poems by Burns, Shakespeare and an anonymous poet; the title-page contains one poem longer poetic quotation, also anonymous). Spine with printed title and decoration. WONDERFULLY PRESERVED in a cloth chemise and folding case.Although the title-page refers to this as the "fifth edition" that attribution is questionable. The British Library records nothing before 1847; NUC records just three copies of this same 1826 edition, nothing earlier; the only auction record for the work dating back to 1966 is for an edition of 1883.In addition to the appeal of these posthumously published poems in Scottish dialect (they first appeared in The Montrose Review), there are seven primitive, charming hand-colored etchings depicting witches, demons and dragons. Beattie (1786-1823), was the son of a Kincardinshire crofter who established himself successfully as an attorney at Montrose and in the end committed suicide from disappointment in love. His principal poems were contributed to the above mentioned Montrose Review. To find a copy of what must have been a very popular work in such fine condition is remarkable