"The Works of Robert Burns, with an Account of his Life by James Currie"

This is part of a four-volume edition of the works of Robert Burns edited by James Currie and published in 1818.   Currie was a doctor, working in Liverpool but originally from Annan, who was chosen by Burns' friends to write his biography.  The biography, published in 1800, only four years after the poet's death, was an immediate success and raised £1,400 for his widow and family.   However, its treatment of Burns' life left misconceptions which persist to this day.  Currie was a reformed alcoholic and chose to put a sanctimonious and moralising slant on Burns' way of life, painting a picture of drunkenness and excess in the poet's later years.