Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKie, James
McKIE, JAMES (1816–1891), Burns collector, born at Kilmarnock on 7 Oct. 1816, was apprenticed to Hugh Crawford, publisher, the successor of John Wilson, who printed the first edition of Burns's poems. After a short engagement in Elgin he settled in Saltcoats as a bookseller, and published the 'Ayrshire Wreath' and the 'Ayrshire Inspirer,' annuals of good literary pretensions. On the retirement of Crawford in 1844 he bought his business at Kilmarnock, started the 'Kilmarnock Journal,' and subsequently the 'Kilmarnock Weekly Post,' and issued several books, chiefly of local interest. It was as a publisher and collector of books connected with Burns that he attained distinction. The growing value of the early editions of Burns suggested the idea of facsimiles, and these he issued in 1867 and 1869. He published also the Kilmarnock 'popular' edition of Burns (2 vols. 1871) and the Kilmarnock 'centenary' edition (2 vols. 1886).
He also issued 'Bibliotheca Burnsiana' (1866), the 'Burns Calendar' (1874), 'A Manual of Religious Belief,' composed by William Burness, the poet's father, published for the first time (1876), and 'The Bibliography of Robert Burns,' an elaborate list of all the editions of Burns and contributions to Burns' literature known to exist, and of the locale of Burns' MSS. and other relics (1881). McKie died at Kilmarnock 26 Sept. 1891. His own library of books concerning Burns, of nearly eight hundred volumes, was the most complete brought together. It was purchased by subscription for 350l., and is now in the museum of the Burns Monument at Kilmarnock, which was erected largely owing to McKie's exertions.
[Kilmarnock Standard, 3 Oct. 1891, where McKie's portrait is given; private information from his son-in-law, Thomas Ferguson, esq., Seaford House, Kilmarnock.]