Robert Burns song the star of Homecoming exhibit

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 19:08

A ROBERT Burns manuscript is to form the centrepiece in a display of Scottish cultural treasures to go on show in Edinburgh this week.

The Battle of Sherramuir, written by Burns in 1790 about the battle of Sheriffmuir during the 1715 Jacobite uprising, is to be shown with eight other historical documents at the National Library of Scotland from Thursday.

The display will be the first time the manuscript has been seen since it was bought by the library from an American dealer for 30,000 earlier this year.

All nine documents, some of which date back to the 16th century, are set to bring visitors closer to Scotland's culture and heritage, providing what organisers have described as "the perfect climax to the year of Homecoming".

Other artefacts on display also promise a glimpse into infamous episodes of history. One, a 1692 letter, orders the massacre of Glencoe, the Campbell clan's attack on their hosts, the MacDonalds. In the paper they are "ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glencoe, and put all to the sword under seventy".

Thirty-eight MacDonalds were killed; another 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned

Another highlight of the collection is the Forlani Map, thought to be the first printed map solely of Scotland, taken from a 1546 chart of Britain.

Also on display will be a map from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, produced for the 1895 memorial Edinburgh edition of his complete works.

Visitors can see two copies of the National Covenant – the key document in the 17th-century protest against attempts to unify the church's of Scotland and England – in both printed and manuscript versions.

Martyn Wade, chief executive of the National Library of Scotland, said: "We are very excited to be celebrating the year of Homecoming by offering members of the public the opportunity to see this collection of priceless Scottish treasures.

"The collection has a wide appeal, with pieces from iconic Scottish literary figures in including Burns, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Walter Scott and Stevenson, and from key moments and movements in the history of Scotland."

The exhibition will be in the Library's new exhibition space from the 19 November to the 8 January.