Edinburgh has a rich history of literature dating back centuries. And in 2004 it became Unesco’s first City of Literature – the start of a network which now includes 42 cities spanning 28 countries and six continents.
From Enlightenment figures like David Hume and the 19th century’s Robert Louis Stevenson to modern authors like Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh and Alexander McCall Smith, the Capital has been home to a wide variety of brilliant, creative minds and the inspiration for their work. Some of the most respected and influential writers lived here, walking the city’s streets and going about their daily business.
Here are nine famous authors from Edinburgh and where they lived in the city.
Here are nine famous authors from Edinburgh and where they lived in the city.
5. David Hume
Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711-76), best known for his Treatise of Human Nature, was born in a tenement in the Lawnmarket and went to Edinburgh University when he was just 10 or 12 - the normal age in these days was 14. In 1744 his nomination as professor of moral philosophy was turned down after accusations of heresy and atheism and he left Edinburgh. Returning in 1751, he lived at Riddle's Court in the Lawnmarket and later at nearby James's Court, also spending a few years in Paris as secretary to the British embassy there. And in 1771 he became one of the first residents of the New Town, buying a house in South St David Street at the corner with St Andrew Square, now the site of an office block with The Ivy restaurant on the ground floor (pictured). Hume was famed for his cooking and he held frequent dinner parties for the great and the good at his New Town home. Photo: Ian Swanson
6. Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) - one of Scotland's most famous authors, commemorated by the towering monument in Princes Street - was born in a tenement off Edinburgh's Cowgate. But suffering ill health, he was sent to live with his grandparents at their farm in Roxburghshire. He later returned to live with his family, by then living at 25 George Square. He studied at Edinburgh University, qualified as an advocate and practised law in the Capital. After marrying in 1797, he and his wife rented accommodation at 50 George Street. moving the following year to 10 Castle Street and in 1801 to 39 Castle Street (pictured) which remained their Edinburgh home until 1826. But they also leased a house in the Borders and later built Abbotsford, on the banks of the Tweed, the house most associated with him and where he wrote most of his novels. Photo: Ian Swanson
7. RM Ballantyne
Children's author Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825-1894) wrote more than 100 books, the most famous of which was The Coral Island. He was born at 25 Ann Street, but a few years later the family was living at 20 Fettes Row (pictured) in the New Town. The family ran a printing business in the Canongate, but a UK-wide banking crisis in the year of his birth saw the business collapse. When he was 16 he went to Canada and spent five years working for the Hudson's Bay Company before returning to Scotland in 1847 and launching his writing career. He married in 1866 and spent his later years in London and then Rome. Photo: Ian Swanson
8. Adam Smith
Economist Adam Smith (1723-90), whose book The Wealth of Nations marked the start of modern economic theory, was born in Kirkcaldy and studied at Glasgow and Oxford. But in 1748 her delivered a successful series of public lectures in Edinburgh and began a collaboration with philosopher David Hume. In 1778, Smith was appointed commissioner of customs in Scotland and went to live with his mother in Panmure House (pictured), off Edinburgh's Canongate, where he eventually died. He is buried in Canongate Kirkyard. Photo: Ian Georgeson