National Library of Scotland to house Rankin’s literary archive

UK crime writer Ian Rankin has donated his literary archive to the National Library of Scotland, reports the Bookseller.

The collection comprises 50 boxes of documents, including manuscripts with handwritten annotations and correspondence with authors J K Rowling, Iain Banks and Ruth Rendell, among other political and cultural figures dating back to 1972.

Rankin said the library has ‘seemed like a friend’ ever since he gained access to the library’s basement levels as a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. ‘Those vaulted underground corridors would reappear in the climactic scenes of my first Rebus novel. It seems fitting, as well as a thrill and an honour, that my archive should find a permanent home there,’ said Rankin.

National librarian John Scally said Rankin is a well-known face to the library. ‘We knew him when he was researching Muriel Spark as part of his PhD, and we knew him when he penned his first novels here in our very reading rooms,’ said Scally. ‘We are honoured to be a character in the Rebus novels alongside the city of Edinburgh, and we feel this is the rightful home for Ian’s archive.’

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