Robert Burns is Scotland's national poet. Every year, on the anniversary of his birth, thousands of Scots at home and abroad gather together to celebrate the poet's life and works by holding Burns Suppers.
Burns was born on the 25th January 1759 in the small village of Alloway in Ayrshire. He was the son of a tenant farmer and was brought up working the land, but like many sons of Scottish farmers received a good education.
Robert was on the point of emigrating to the West Indies in 1786 because his farm was failing and he had problems with the women in his life. Before he went he published a volume of his poetry called Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The book was am immediate success and Burns turned instead to Edinburgh. His stay in the city resulted in some long term friendships and in a few passionate relationships. Burns also met James Johnson - a music seller who was determined to preserve old Scots songs. They worked together on The Scots Musical Museum - a six volume collection of Scots songs, the last volume of which was published in 1803.
In 1788 Burns returned to Ayrshire and rented a farm near Dumfries. He began working as an exciseman in 1789 and gave up farming in 1791, when he moved to Dumfries. He continued to write poetry and songs until he died on the 21st July 1796 aged just 37.
This exhibition represents just some of the many Burns related works available in Edinburgh Libraries.
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries