Globe Close, Dumfries

A hand coloured steel plate engraving from a painting by William Henry Bartlett of the Robert Burns' favourite inn in the town of Dumfries.   When Robert Burns came to live in Dumfries in 1791, the Globe Inn was one of the more fashionable public houses of the town. The landlords at that time were the Hyslop family and Burns soon became a regular customer, mentioning them by name in several poems and letters. In the upstairs bedroom two small window panes still bear inscriptions by the poet, whilst other poems connected with the inn are, "At the Globe Tavern" and "Lines Written on Windows of the Globe Tavern". The Hyslop family obviously were tolerant of this vandalism by their literary guest!   As the reputation of the Globe Inn as Burn's "howff" in Dumfries grew, it became an attraction for those visiting Burns' haunts in and around the town. In the 1940s it was purchased by M H McKerrow who was President of the Burns Federation and a life long Burns enthusiast in order to preserve its associations with the poet.   This view of the Globe Inn has been hand coloured, most probably sometime in the 20th century after having been removed from a topographical book published in the mid 1880s. At this time the development of steel plate engraving made it possible for images to be reproduced in much greater numbers than previous printing technology had allowed. Engravings of works by eminent artists became popular, although they were still expensive and beyond the pocket of most people.