About this artwork

The influential Edinburgh bookseller William Creech published the first Edinburgh edition of Robert Burns’s poems. Although Burns called Creech “my friend, my patron”, he had to remind his publisher to pay him while he patiently waited in Edinburgh. Creech published Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, a detailed parish-by-parish survey of the nation. He also published his own work, such as his musings on Deacon Brodie’s trial and execution, printed just days after he had served on the famous burglar’s jury. He was also a co-founder of Edinburgh’s Speculative Society, a debating club whose members included various great figures such as Sir Walter Scott and Francis Horner. The club still continues.

Updated before 2020

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  • artist:
    Sir Henry Raeburn (1756 - 1823) Scottish
  • title:
    William Creech, 1745 - 1815. Publisher and Lord Provost of Edinburgh
  • date created:
    1806
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    127.00 x 101.60 cm; Framed: 147.00 x 119.00 x 14.20 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Given by the family of the Reverend Robert Watson 1928
  • accession number:
    PG 1041
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Sir Henry Raeburn

Sir Henry Raeburn