THEY adorned his flat in the west end of Glasgow for more than 40 years and Edwin Morgan, Scotland's national poet, could have sold them for a fortune.

But Scotland's makar has instead decided to donate his valuable, and very personal, collection of 70 works to be saved and displayed for posterity.

The 84-year-old has gifted all the paintings, sketches, drawings and prints to the University of Glasgow, where he studied and taught, because of his abiding affection for the institution.

The gift is to be permanently on display at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery from early spring of next year, and is to be simply titled the Edwin Morgan Collection. A small selection of his collection will be on display at the gallery at the end of next week.

Last night Mr Morgan, who is suffering from cancer and now lives in a nursing home, said he had left the collection to the university in his will.

However, as he has now sold his apartment, Mr Morgan said it made sense to give the paintings away rather than simply keep them in storage.

The collection, worth tens of thousands of pounds, is as eclectic and colourful as his poetry. Alongside oil paintings by Joan Eardley, famous for her paintings of Gorbals and the north-east coast and which are among his favourites, are works by the Scottish colourists and six paintings by Peter Howson.

There is also a watercolour by Sir Robin Philipson, one of the leading Scottish artists of the twentieth century, as well as a selection of work by the Japanese artist Toyokuni and two works by Alasdair Gray, the writer.

Mr Morgan's abiding interest in the avant garde is represented in a rare work by Wyndham Lewis, the founder of the Vorticist movement.

Anne Dulau, the curator of British and French art at the Hunterian, said it was a ''very good and valuable'' collection and reflected the man and his many interests - but was dominated by his love of Scotland.

Dr Alan Riach, the head of the department of Scottish literature at the university and a friend of Mr Morgan's, said the gift was typical of the man. He said: ''It's a wonderful collection and it shows his generosity: there was not a thought of commerce for him.

''He has moved on to a new chapter of his life and he's not a man for holding on to things: he is quite capable of jettisoning material and moving on, and that is what he has done so generously here.''

Mr Morgan agreed. Yesterday he said: ''I don't feel sentimental about it. It is just a practical thing. I don't really have any sentimentality - they'll be in good hands and lots of people will see them: that is the idea I like the best.

''You can clutter your life and your home up with many things, with lots of objects that have no use, and the paintings are in my mind: I have been looking at them for so many years.

''I have got my enjoyment out of them and now other people can too. It's better that than being hidden away in some cupboard.''

The poet has six paintings in his room at the nursing home in Glasgow but said he did not feel the need to have any more.

He said: ''I could have sold them, yes I did think about that, but I liked the idea of them being at the university and they seem glad to have them. I think it also fills some holes in their collection. I like the idea of other people enjoying them for years to come. Selling them just didn't seem quite right.''

Mr Morgan began his English studies at the university in 1937, but they were interrupted in 1940 when he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, and he returned in 1946.

He graduated the following year and became a lecturer, turning down a scholarship to Oxford. He took early retirement in 1980 and ended his career as a university professor.

Mr Morgan said his collection did not follow artistic trends: just his desire to decorate his flat with images that he loved.

''I had moved into a new flat and suddenly had all these walls to fill. I bought them according to my taste. They don't follow any fashion of any kind.''

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GIFT

John Byrne, Boy with the Paper Snake, watercolour and ink.

Joan Eardley, three works in oil and one in gouache, all from the late 1950s.

J D Fergusson, Girl by Flower Stall, oil.

W G Gilllies, Primroses, oil.

Alasdair Gray, Blossom and Diane and Portrait of E M.

David Octavius Hill, The Firth of Forth, oil c1860.

Peter Howson, six works in oil, pastel and gouache, from 1980 to 2002.

Robin Philipson, Summer Interior, watercolour 1970.

George Leslie Hunter, Le Chemin de mas, oil.

Wyndham Lewis, Couple, ink and watercolour, c1920.