Lot 280

[Burns, Robert]

The Library of Robert Burns

Books & Manuscripts

Auction: Books & Manuscripts | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 253 to 285

Estimate: £500 - £800

Description

[Cheltenham]: Shenton, printer, c.1855. Printed broadside on wove paper, 43 x 27cm, text in two columns within decorative frame, inscribed at head ‘The Honourable Miss Vereker, with Lt Col. J. G. Burns’ compliments' in black ink, marginal nicks and damp-staining. Together with an engraved portrait of Robert Burns, inscribed on mount ‘Given me by Co. James Glencairn Burns, son of the “Ayrshire Bard” (’Robert Burns, from the Original Drawing by Archibald Skirving', Glasgow: Blackie & Son, c.1850, 25 x 17.5cm, slit-mounted at corners) (2)

Footnote

A fascinating piece of Burnsiana, commissioned as a late act of filial piety by Burns's youngest surviving son James Glencairn Burns (1794-1865) during his retirement in Cheltenham, following a distinguished career in the army of the East India Company. The only other copy traced, at the Robert Burns Birthplace Trust, bears a similar inscription from James Glencairn Burns; the Honorable Miss Vereker may have been one of the daughters of John Prenderast Vereker, 3rd Viscount Gort (1790-1865).

The author of the Genealogical Memoirs of the Family of Robert Burns later recalled that James Glencairn Burns, though ‘abundantly facetious and good humoured … nevertheless keenly resented any ungenerous reflection on his father’s memory' (1877, p. 61). A paragraph at the head of the present document explains: ‘On the decease of Burns, the Books in his Library were numerous and well-selected; and an Edinburgh Bookseller valued them at £90 … The following list has been furnished to the Publishers, by the sons of the Poet; and, although it comprises a portion only of their father's Library, it will be accepted by his admirers as a most interesting memorial'.