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BURNS
IN SCOTLAND
Highlights of the National Burns Collection
A Book Review
By
Frank R. Shaw, FSA Scot, Atlanta, GA, USA email:
jurascot@earthlink.net
 This
is a book for those who want to visit the actual “historical artifacts,
documents and artworks connected with the life of Robert Burns.” This book
has arranged the Burns collections throughout Scotland by locations
complete with map, telephone numbers, and addresses where each can be
found.
If you have never been to Scotland to enjoy
Burns Country, you will need this book. If you have been a dozen times,
you will need this book. Why? It is an exhaustive little book describing
Burns items scattered throughout Scotland from St. Andrews to
Kirkcudbright with more than a dozen places in between. All together,
there are 38 historic venues across Scotland. Naturally enough, it begins
with the “Birth of Burns” in Alloway and concludes with “The Death of
Burns” in Dumfries. It took Robert Burns 37 years to go from one to the
other. For you, the reader, these historical artifacts and paintings are
covered in a mere 60 pages
I found BURNS IN SCOTLAND very
informative and helpful this past September on my trip to Scotland, and it
is a welcomed addition to my own increasing Burns book collection, now
numbering over 900 volumes. The book has already become a ready reference
guide. It is permanently placed on Hemingway writing desk for ready
reference.
Gavin
Sprott, a Burns scholar, wrote the foreword in the book and is, in itself,
worth the price of the publication. His understanding of Burns is
phenomenal, and his description of Burns as a hero of Scotland who was
“not some grisly and obscure old warrior-saint up to his oxters (armpits)
in the blood of ethnic enemies, but an intensely human poet!” is
refreshing indeed.
You can
visit the National Burns Collection on their website at
www.burnsscotland.com and “surf the new national data base of Burns
treasures”. This book may be purchased by contacting the National Burns
Collection Project, 28 Eglinton Street, Irvine, KA12 8AS or by telephone
at 011 44 1294 279927 if you are in no mood to pinch
pennies.
If you
can’t go to the auld country for a personal tour of the Burns countryside,
you can do so with this book. If you are touring Scotland for the first
time, or get to go back again and again, this book will make you feel you
have your own personal tour guide with you. It is that good! (FRS:
11-20-05) |
