Correspondence and other documents relating to Robert Burns
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/04
- Date
- 1767 to 1996
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Various
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/04
- Date
- 1767 to 1996
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Various
Description
This is a collection of approximately 268 separate items which include letters, notes, typescripts, volumes, legal documents, inventories, printed items, framed documents etc.
The correspondents in the letters include:
• Agnes Eleanor Perochon [1760-1825];
• Henry Raeburn [1756-1823];
• Thomas Carlyle [1795-1881];
• Alexander Cunningham [d1812];
• There is also a collection of letters written by John Syme [1755-1831].
The subjects and topics within the correspondence are tangentially related to Burns.
Other MS in this collection include:
• Memorandum of Agreement between William Creech and Robert Burns, dated 17-23 April 1787;
• Subscribers' list for the Kilmarnock Edition, published by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, 14 April 1786 [This is the only known copy of the prospectus issued by Burns with a view to obtaining subscriptions for his proposed volume of "Poems" - the now world-famous Kilmarnock edition. 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' life.]
• Inventory of letters addressed to Robert Burns in his possession at the time of his death. 56 pages, quarto, imperfect.
• Series of 30+ letters written by John Syme to Alexander Cunningham between 1791 and 1796
• Volumes of Press Cuttings & associated correspondence
• Last will & testament of David Burness (original) dated 1816, & written by the testator and Inventory of the goods and gear of David Burness in Bogheads of Kintore, 1816
• Tam O'Shanter Club of Philadelphia Programme for 9th annual supper, 1892
• Miscellaneous letters relating to Burns relics, including Dundas of Arniston denying finding any Burns manuscripts in a drawer, 1905
• Typed extract from trust disposition and settlement and codicils of Robert James Bennett, Savoy Park bequeathing his library of Burns books to the Burns Cottage trustees. Extract from settlement of Robert James Bennett bequeathing his library of Burns books to the museum, March 1905
• Robert Burns's family tree in black wooden frame. Entitled "Ancestors, Descendants and Collateral Relatives of Robert Burns compiled by Robert Duthie, Stonehaven, and Kincardineshire 25th January, 1859". Compiled on the 100th anniversary of Robert Burns's death, 1905
Other MS in this collection include:
• Memorandum of Agreement between William Creech and Robert Burns, dated 17-23 April 1787;
• Subscribers' list for the Kilmarnock Edition, published by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, 14 April 1786 [This is the only known copy of the prospectus issued by Burns with a view to obtaining subscriptions for his proposed volume of "Poems" - the now world-famous Kilmarnock edition. 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' life.]
• Inventory of letters addressed to Robert Burns in his possession at the time of his death. 56 pages, quarto, imperfect.
• Series of 30+ letters written by John Syme to Alexander Cunningham between 1791 and 1796
• Volumes of Press Cuttings & associated correspondence
• Last will & testament of David Burness (original) dated 1816, & written by the testator and Inventory of the goods and gear of David Burness in Bogheads of Kintore, 1816
• Tam O'Shanter Club of Philadelphia Programme for 9th annual supper, 1892
• Miscellaneous letters relating to Burns relics, including Dundas of Arniston denying finding any Burns manuscripts in a drawer, 1905
• Typed extract from trust disposition and settlement and codicils of Robert James Bennett, Savoy Park bequeathing his library of Burns books to the Burns Cottage trustees. Extract from settlement of Robert James Bennett bequeathing his library of Burns books to the museum, March 1905
• Robert Burns's family tree in black wooden frame. Entitled "Ancestors, Descendants and Collateral Relatives of Robert Burns compiled by Robert Duthie, Stonehaven, and Kincardineshire 25th January, 1859". Compiled on the 100th anniversary of Robert Burns's death, 1905
Hierarchy
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Correspondence and other documents relating to Robert Burns(
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