Subscribers' list for the Kilmarnock Edition, published by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, 14 April 1786

The position in which the Poet found himself early in the year 1786 determined him to leave Scotland, and he accepted a situation as book-keeper (at £30 per annum) on an estate in Jamaica. But he was not "master of nine guineas, the price of wafting me to the Torrid Zone," and he was unwilling to indent himself: he accordingly resolved to publish some of his poems. Having arranged with John Wilson, bookseller in Kilmarnock, to print his volume, he prepared "Proposals for publishing." Eight dozen copies were printed - doubtless by Wilson; only this one is known now to exist.

The document carries the signatures of a dozen or so patrons noting the number of copies they wish to subscribe for. The "Kilmarnock Edition" was printed in July 1786 and proved to be a great success and a turning point in Burns's life.

This is the only surviving sheet, out of 96 printed, advertising the proposal to print ‘Scotch Poems’ by Robert Burns. Reassured by promises to buy 350 books, John Wilson printed almost double that number in July 1786.