This is a guide to the most comprehensive collection of
Burns and Burnsiana outside of the United Kingdom . Established in 1989, the
G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns and Burnsiana at the University of South Carolina’s Thomas Cooper Library
is one of the world’s foremost collections dedicated to the study of Scotland’s greatest poet. G. Ross Roy, an internationally renowned Burns scholar, inherited the origins of this collection from his grandfather in 1958. Since that time, the dynamic collection has increased fivefold - and continues to expand through new acquisitions. This illustrated catalogue of the collection’s expansive holdings is being published in 2009 on the occasion of
Burns ‘ 250th birthday as a guide to the current collection for researchers and collectors alike. Of the approximately six thousand items described in the catalogue, the largest sections are works by Burns and items of Burnsiana. These include not only separate editions of the poet’s major works but also editions with distinctive bindings and variants. Among the notable highlights is one of only two known first-edition copies of
The Merry Muses of Caledonia
(1799) and the only one with a complete title page. The collection also includes sixteen of the twenty-one known variants of the 1827 reprint edition of that work. Also detailed are landmark collections of Burns, including the exceptionally rare
Kilmarnock
edition (1786), the 1787
Edinburgh
edition with more than thirty annotations in Burns’ hand, the 1787 London edition, and James Currie’s 1800 edition. The collection includes as well
Burns ‘ annotated copy of John Moore’s novel
Zeluco
and a copy of
The World
with more than sixty ascriptions and comments in
Burns ’ hand. The catalogued Burnsiana features almost every book-length study of the poet as well as numerous pamphlets and books with significant sections about Burns. Also described in the catalogue, among the collection’s manuscripts, is the song
Lesley Bailie - A Scots Ballad
(1792), the only known copy in
Burns ‘ hand. And the most unique artifacts of realia seen here are
Burns ’ porridge bowl and horn spoon, inherited by Roy from his grandfather as part of the original collection.
The G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns
includes an introduction by G. Ross Roy on the history of the collection. In text and images, the catalogue documents a monumental research collection that serves as an open invitation for further investigations into the life, works, and legacy of Scotland’s bard.