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Description: | After Robert Burns' early death in 1796, his friends agreed that a biography of the poet should be written, the proceeds from which would help to support his widow and young family. To this end they selected Dr James Currie, a medical man from Liverpool, originally born in Annan.
This title page is from a later edition of Burns' poems edited by James Currie and containing his biography. It shows the cottage in Alloway, near Ayr where the poet was born.
The first edition of the biography was published in 1800 and was an immediate success, raising over ��1,400. Sadly, Currie's treatment of his subject raised misconceptions about Burns' life which survive to this day. He chose to put a moral slant on the events of the life of the poet and painted a picture of drunkenness and excess in his last years. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Dumfries & Galloway Council - Nithsdale Museums | Temporal: | 1845-01-01 - 1860-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Title page from 'The Complete Works of R | Go to resource |
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