Glenriddell Manuscripts: copies of poems, letters, etc., of Robert Burns, compiled by the poet, 1791-1793, for presentation to Robert Riddell of Glenriddell.
Dates
- Creation: 4th quarter of 18th century.
Conditions Governing Access
Permission is required before this item may be consulted. Please contact the Manuscripts and Archives Division for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
Normal reproduction conditions apply, subject to any copyright restrictions.
Extent
2 Volumes ; Quarto.
Language of Materials
Undetermined
Other Finding Aids
A list of the contents of both volumes is given in ‘Robert Burns and the Riddell family’, Appendix A (in which letter number 28 in MS.87, ‘addressed to Miss Davies inclosing a ballad—1791 or 92 or 89’, is omitted), and a list of those of MS.86 in Henry A Bright, ‘Some account of the Glenriddell MSS.’
Custodial History
The second volume was never handed over to Robert Riddell, a quarrel intervening while it was being written out. The first volume was returned to Robert Burns, at his written request, on Riddell’s death. After the death of Burns, the two volumes were sent to Dr Currie as material for his edition of the poet’s works (published in 1800), and remained in the possession of the Currie family until 1853, when Mrs S Currie, the widow of Dr Currie’s son, William Wallace Currie, presented them to the Athenaeum, Liverpool (her autograph letter is pasted on the inside of the back cover of the first volume). Sold in 1913 - see correspondence in the press, republished in the 'Burns Chronicle and Club Directory' (1914), pages 5-38), they were bought by John Gribbel, Philadelphia, United States of America, and presented by him to the Scottish nation. On the establishment of the National Library, the volumes, in accordance with the provisions of the deed of trust, were formally handed over to the Trustees of the Library in 1926 ('Scotsman', 2 June 1926). A copy of the deed of trust and relevant correspondence are in the steel box which contained the Manuscripts.
Bibliography
'Burns Chronicle and Club Directory'.
Wood, J Maxwell. 'Robert Burns and the Riddell family' (Dumfries, 1922).
For facsimiles, see ‘The Glenriddell Manuscripts of Robert Burns’, (Privately printed by John Gribbel, Philadelphia, 1914).
See also ‘Burns and the Glenriddell Manuscripts’, in 'Transactions of the Rymour Club' (Edinburgh, 1928), volume iii, pages 83-92.
- Title
- National Library of Scotland Catalogue of Manuscripts
- Author
- National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division
- Description rules
- International Standard for Archival Description - General
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700
manuscripts@nls.uk