 Just like him, Nairne's songs were at first circulated by being performed, but her interest in Scottish music and song brought her into contact with Robert Purdie, an Edinburgh publisher.Purdie was gathering together "a collection of the national airs, with words suited for refined circles" to which Nairne contributed a significant number of original songs, all without attribution to her.The collection was published in six volumes as "The Scottish Minstrel" from 1821 to 1824, with music edited by Robert Archibald Smith.