Burns: Rare letter from wife donated to library
A rare letter penned by the wife of Robert Burns has been donated to the National Library of Scotland.
The letter from the poet's wife and widow Jean Armour to her friend Maria Riddell was written in 1804, eight years after Burns died.
Armour writes of the progress of five of the couple's children: William Nichol, Robert, Francom Wallace, James Glencarn and Maxwell.
The letter refers to the death of Francom Wallace, and the couple's youngest child Maxwell, nearly three year's after his father's death.
She wrote: "Francom Wallace died last year, he was to have gon to the East Indies this spring had he lived, Mr Shaw had got a cadets place for him. Maxwell died 2 years and 9 months."
The letter, unearthed in a second-hand shop in New York's Greenwich Village by a Burns enthusiast, "speaks volumes about the trials and tribulations of having been Mrs Robert Burns", according to the society.
Cate Newton, the society's director of collections and research, said: "It's an amazing story, to find a letter like this in such unusual circumstances, particularly one from someone like Jean Armour for whom there are very few comparable documents, if any.
"We're delighted at the find, and doubly so at Dr Groce's generosity in donating the letter to the National Library of Scotland."
Dr Nancy Groce, of the Library of Congress, bought the letter for just 75 dollars (£46).
She offered to donate the letter to the National Library of Scotland after meeting staff from the library at a Burns symposium in Washington in February last year.
She said: "In the back of the store, perched on a pile of assorted junk, I noticed a cheap 1970s plastic box frame containing a hand-written letter.
"When I picked it up, I immediately noted it was dated 1804, that it came from Dumfries, and that it was signed Jean Burns.
"Having recently produced a symposium on Robert Burns at the Library of Congress it caught my attention.
"I'm so pleased that it has proven to be genuine and I hope the presence of this letter at the National Library of Scotland will lead to further research into Jean Armour Burns, her life and times, and her contributions."
