ABSTRACT
Multiple means of dissemination, through oral means and a variety of printed vehicles, likely resulted in an awareness and knowledge of Burns that transcended any single cultural or socio-economic group. Transatlantic trading networks contributed strongly to this availability. Book trade practices in Scotland had, since the early eighteenth century cautiously accommodated transatlantic business interests, frequently via London. There are several necessary caveats to any examination of the early transatlantic book trade. The importance of general merchants for the transatlantic movement of books in the Georgian period meant that colonial residents had access to bound volumes by Burns as well as pamphlets containing recent poems and song and music sheets. These latter were imported and sold by music teachers and piano and fiddle sellers as well as by general merchants. The business mechanisms were driven, first, by a motive for profit, complemented often by a cultural interest amongst Scottish printers and general merchants.
