James Barke

James Barke (1905-1958) was born at Torwoodlee, Galashiels, but spent most of his childhood in Tullieallan, Fife where his father worked on an estate. After leaving school he worked for a time as an engineer in the years after World War I, but turned to writing and editing for a living after the publication of his first novel The World his Pillow (1933). Barke edited the works of Robert Burns and was responsible, with Sydney Goodsir Smith, for the definitive edition of The Merry Muses of Caledonia.