Writers' Museum

The Writers’ Museum occupies Lady Stair’s House, a 17th-century town house in Edinburgh’s Old Town. It stands beside the Royal Mile, a short walk from the Scottish Parliament and the National Library. The building itself has thick stone walls and oak-panelled rooms that feel little changed since the 1600s. Inside, three writers take centre stage: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. The museum is run by the City of Edinburgh Council and shares the site with Makars’ Court, an open space lined with paving stones engraved with quotations. The museum holds portraits, first editions and personal belongings of each writer. Burns is represented by a looping soundtrack of his letters and poems, while Scott’s slippers and chess set recall his daily life. Stevenson’s travels appear through a copy of The Bible in Spain and a paper sculpture of a street scene from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A hand-press once used to print Scott’s Waverley novels is also on display. The objects are drawn from private collections and literary archives across Scotland. Visitors move through three small rooms, each devoted to one writer. In the Burns section, a menu from a 1994 Burns Club supper shows the dishes served at the seventy-first annual gathering. Scott’s room contains his inkstand and letters on witchcraft, alongside a conversation soundtrack about printing. Stevenson’s display includes an illustration from Travels with a Donkey and a moral fable he helped print himself. Outside, Makars’ Court offers a quiet place to read the engraved lines of modern Scottish poets.