A poem by William McGonagall. A collection of poems by the Scottish bard1 dubbed2 the "world's worst poet" is to go under the hammer, expected to sell for thousands of pounds.

A collection of 35 poems by William Topaz McGonagall, often referred to as the "world's worst poet" in the English language, has sold for $12,900 at an auction³ in Edinburgh.

The collection, self-published by McGonagall, was sold by Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers Friday, with the buyer choosing to remain anonymous⁴.

The works, described as having poor vocabulary and bad rhyming, tackle topics from a theatre fire to Britain's imperial wars to women's suffrage⁵.

In fact, the selling price outpaced that of a set of inscribed⁶ Harry⁷ Potter books by J.K. Rowling, which fetched about $12,100 at the same event.

McGonagall was a weaver⁸ in Dundee, Scotland who often recited his works on the street and tried to sell them. He was ridiculed⁹ during his lifetime, keeping an umbrella nearby for protection against hurled¹⁰ eggs and vegetables.

One of his poems attests¹¹ to the routine derision he experienced:

"Every morning when I go out/The ignorant rabble¹² they do shout/There goes Mad McGonagall!"

"Everyone knows him as the world's worst poet, but we are still talking about him today and he's attracted an international audience," said Alex Dove, books specialist at Lyon & Turnbull.

"He's appreciated because he's comedic."

McGonagall, who died in 1902, was always proud of his work, despite the bad reception. He even produced a short autobiography¹³, two copies of which were created and are inscribed with this tribute: "dedicated¹⁴ to himself, knowing none greater."

His most infamous¹⁵ poem is called The Tay Bridge Disaster (1879), which recalled the tragedy in which 75 people died.

"So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay/Until it was about midway/Then the central girders with a crash gave way/And down went the train and passengers into the Tay."