The manuscript letter from Robert Burns to William Nicol came into The Mitchell Library via a bequest from Charles Rennie Cowie, who was a Glasgow merchant described in 1918 as ‘the most outstanding Burns man in Glasgow.’
This letter was handwritten by Burns from Carlisle at the end of a month long tour of the Borders in 1787. Nicol was classics master at Edinburgh high school and was a drinking companion of Burns.
It is the only extant example of Burns writing in his colloquial Ayrshire scots.
Willie Nicol featured in the Burns song ‘Willie brewed a peck o’ maut’. Burns named his second surviving son after William Nicol.