Robert Burns is looking for a Patron

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Robert Burns is a singular poet and the most popular Scot of all time. He deserves it. This farmer from Ayrshire has never been able to integrate the urban society, of which he was a social and religious critic. Rather, he got inspiration from the deepest traditions of the country.

He visited Scotland here and there to collect poems and songs, so becoming the most competent and the most emotional of folklorists. He was a century and a half ahead of the ethnographers of the twentieth century. Robert Burns embodies the Scottish folk song. He is not the author but the brilliant performer, seeking what is the best song to fit each text according to his deep insight of the people of his country.

On August 20 in Edinburgh, Bonhams does not auction an item, but a sponsorship.

Since 1787, Burns co-operated to the collection edited by James Johnson as the 'Scots Musical Museum'. A special copy was printed for him in 1794 including blank pages to annotate. His handwritten notes modifying 'Auld Lang Syne' by Allan Ramsay is regarded as the historical starting point of this song that is interpreted in chorus by all the Scots at midnight every January 1st.

This sponsorship is estimated £ 10 K, but the National Trust for Scotland hopes to obtain 50 K £. This money will contribute as a little part to the opening of a Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, for which £ 3.8 million are still needed. It is a smart operation of advertising.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Nobody has committed money on this lot. The Scots are pragmatic people, who ever liked to have something concrete in return for their money. It is gratifying to see that in 2009 abstractions do not sell. The lot was unsold, and not withdrawn: it is still shown in the catalog of Bonhams.

It was a nice publicity stunt, as I said in my article. The expected direct contribution to the project was not major, and it gave us the opportunity to highlight a very nice event and a top name in the history of poetry.