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Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 13 May 1787

Key details

Archive number
NTS/02/25/BRN/01/15
Alt. number
3.6042
Date
13 May 1787
On display
No
Creator
Burns, Robert (Author)
Recipient
Creech, William

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Description

Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech in London, 13 May 1787. undated, but written "in a solitary Inn in Selkirk" on 13th May 1787; signed "Robt. Burns."

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.

This is a single page covering letter to enclose a "nearly extempore" twelve stanza verse of a lively nature to his publisher. He keeps the note short on account of being "jaded to death", the result of his days riding in bad weather.

The letter also enclosed the poem 'Willie's Awa', which Burns wrote at the same time. 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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  1. Letters from and to Robert Burns ( )
  2. Letter from Robert Burns to William Creech, 13 May 1787