It was predicted last month the famous Robert Burns work could have fetched as much as £50,000 in a private agreement with the National Trust for Scotland, but the figure was agreed earlier this month.

However, the buyer, Professor David Purdie will not be able to take the work, written in 1788, home.

Instead the 62-year-old retired professor of medicine will become a "patron" for his lifetime of the 18th century manuscript, which will be kept in the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, South Ayrshire.

Professor Purdie, who is also a patron of the National Trust for Scotland, said: "Being an Ayrshire man, I have had a lifelong interest in our emblematic poet and being able to help safeguard the legacy of one of his most precious works is an absolute pleasure for me.

"There is a necessity to construct a major attraction in which to commemorate his life and work and the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum will provide a lasting legacy for Burns and a major contribution to Ayrshire and to Scotland.

"I see this as a contribution to my home town and my home county. The memory of the life and legacy of the man whose poems and songs, first laid before his family and friends in the farmlands of Ayrshire, were to become the property and the patrimony of mankind."

Robert Burns Birthplace Museum director Nat Edwards said: "It is truly awe-inspiring that the original manuscript on which the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne were first penned will make such a significant contribution to the creation of the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, as part of the final fundraising push to raise the remaining funds for the project.

The lot was part of Bonhams’ Scottish sale last month and as part of the trust’s campaign to raise £1m this year towards the creation of the museum. However, Professor Purdie will have a plaque at the £21m museum bearing his name as the manuscript’s patron.