Explore correspondence between senders and recipients of letters and documents in the Burns Collection.
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Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 13 May 1787
Robert wrote this letter during his Border tour while staying at 'a solitary Inn in Selkirk, after a miserable wet day's riding.' It is written to William Creech, the publisher of Burns's Edinburgh edition of poems.
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'Willie's Awa' or 'Lament For The Absence Of William Creech, Publisher'
This poem accompanied the letter Robert sent to his publisher William Creech on 13 May 1787 (see object 3.6042). The poem is a mock lament of Creech's absence from Edinburgh while in London arranging for an English edition of Burns's poems to be published.
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Robert Burns tours the West Highlands.
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Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 24 June 1787
In this short letter, Robert writes to his publisher William Creech asking him to send 50 copies of the Edinburgh edition to Mr Smith, bookseller in Glasgow, for his subscribers.
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Robert Burns tours the Highlands.
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Promisory note for 100 guineas, William Creech to Robert Burns, dated 23 October 1787
In November 1786 Robert travelled to Edinburgh to organise the publication of a second edition of his poems. There he used his personal connections to meet with William Creech, a popular bookseller and printer. By December, they had nearly agreed on a deal.
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Robert Burns meets Agnes Maclehose in Edinburgh.
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Robert Burns and Agnes Maclehose begin exchanging love letters.
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Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 24 January 1788
Written in January 1788, this is a letter from Robert to his publisher William Creech. At this time, Burns was waiting for the monetary settlement from the publisher.
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Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) dies in Rome.
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Burns returns to Tarbolton to see Jean Armour, who is pregnant.
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Jean Armour gives birth to twin girls, who both die, unnamed, within a month.
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Burns takes on the lease at Ellisland, the farm he and Jean will live in from 1789 to 1791.
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Burns receives his Excise commission and begins his traineeship.
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The formal marriage of Jean Armour and Robert Burns is registered in Mauchline, although they likely married in March 1788.
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Jenny Clow, the maid of Agnes Maclehose in Edinburgh, gives birth to a son, Robert Burns Jnr.
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Burns sends the first version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to Mrs Dunlop. During his time at Ellisland Farm, Burns writes over 130 songs and poems, nearly a quarter of his total output.
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Robert Burns formally takes up Excise work with a salary of £50 per annum.
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William Blake writes Songs of Innoncence.
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George Washington becomes the first President of the United States of America.
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Jean Armour and Robert Burns move into Ellisland Farm.
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The fall of the Bastille in Paris marks the beginning of the French Revolution.
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Francis Wallace Burns is born to Jean Armour Burns.
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Robert Burns writes Tam o’ Shanter.
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Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man is published in London.
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Anne Park gives birth to Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Burns. Betty is raised by Jean Armour with the rest of Burns’s children after Anne’s death in 1793.
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Jean Armour gives birth to William Nicol Burns at Ellisland.
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Washington DC is founded as America’s capital city.
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The first Ten Amendments to the American Constitution are created.
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Robert Burns and his family leave Ellisland Farm and take up residence in Dumfries.
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Mozart dies, aged 35, in Vienna.
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The last meeting takes place between Agnes Maclehose and Robert Burns in Edinburgh. She departs for Jamaica to be briefly reconciled with her husband in January 1792.
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Burns is asked to contribute to George Thomson’s A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice.
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Jean Armour gives birth to Elizabeth Riddell Burns.
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Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is published.
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Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 16 April 1792
Robert Burns informed Creech "A few Books which I very much want, are all the recompense I crave, together with as many copies of this new edition of my own works as Friendship or Gratit