Bannatyne manuscript with Ramsay's additions, around 1724 [Library reference: Adv.MS.1.1.6].
A passion for the revival of the Scots language underpinned many of Ramsay's publications.
'The Bannatyne manuscript' was an important source of material for Ramsay.
This manuscript was originally compiled by Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne during the plague ('in tyme of pest.').
Ramsay's handwriting can be seen on the second last page of the manuscript, dating from around 1724. On this page, Ramsay claims that he has used it to share his love for 'Antient Strains'.
He worked many of these poems into his 'Ever Green' (1724) project, a 'collection of Scots Poems wrote by the Ingenious before 1600.'
View a digital version of volume two of Ramsay's 'The Ever Green'.