Sights of Memory

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines book illustrations connected to the works of Robert Burns published in the Romantic era. It considers how the initial publication of Burns’s oeuvre and the subsequent shaping of the poet’s reputation after his death mapped onto changes in the technical processes of book illustration as the industry shifted from copperplate to woodcut and steel-plate engraving. It argues that the increasing proliferation of illustrations in books in the early nineteenth century contributed to the production of Burns not just as a site but also as a sight of cultural memory, as visual representations of the poet, his works, and the countryside in which he lived became synonymous with the production of Scotland as tourist destination.