Letter from Robert Burns to James Johnson, 4 May 1787

Key details

Archive number: NTS/02/25/BRN/01/14
Alt. number: 3.6041
Date: 4 May 1787
On display: No
Creator: Burns, Robert (Author)
Recipient: Johnson, James

Explore correspondence between the creator and recipient

Description

Letter from Robert Burns to James Johnson, dated Lawn Market, 4 May 1787. Letter suggested to have been written on 4th May 1787. It encloses a song which Burns claims being "never before known" which he obtained from Dr Blacklock titled "the air by McGibbon".

When Burns visited Edinburgh in the late 1780s, he met the engraver James Johnson who had begun collecting Scottish songs for publication. When the two met in 1787, Johnson’s first volume of The Scots Musical Museum was well-underway.

Johnson, recognising a fellow lover of music, invited Burns to contribute to the subsequent volumes. Over the next few years, Robert contributed over 150 original songs to Johnson as well as many more traditional songs he had collected and re-worked with new lyrical arrangements.

This letter to Johnson was written near 4 May 1787, just before Robert's journey through the Borders. In it, Burns encloses a song which he claims being 'never before known' and which he obtained from Dr Blacklock. Blacklock called in 'the air by McGibbon'.

Seall barrachd

Archive information

Place of creation

Edinburgh

Themes

Hierarchy