This is an exciting and controversial reassessment of a period and a people who stood at the birth of Scotland.

The Sardana Dancers is an intriguing and compassionate novel about the interweaving lives of a variety of characters who are caught up in a sort of sardana – a Catalan dance performed for pleasure and as a symbol of unity.

It’s criminal up north . . .  Cal Innes is fresh out of Strangeways, playing PI and running from a past muddied with ties to local gang lord ‘Uncle’ Morris Tiernan . . .

It’s criminal up north ... Cal Innes is fresh out of Strangeways, playing PI and running from a past muddied with ties to local gang lord ‘Uncle’ Morris Tiernan. When Tiernan tells him to track down a rogue casino dealer ...

Scapa Flow, one of the greatest naval bases in history, resonates through the annals of the Royal Navy during the two great wars of the twentieth century, and this book solidifies that reputation in this remarkable book.

Frederick G. Rea was an English teacher who became headmaster of Garrynamonie School in South Uist in the 1890s. His love and respect for the islands is wonderfully conveyed in this vivid testament.

Combining exciting traditional tales that illustrate the background of the practice of Highland cattle-raiding with extensive historical research, School of the Moon shows that there is much yet to be understood about Scotland’s history, even of the last few hundred years.

This is a captivating comparative selection of Scottish photographs from 1907 by Valentine and Sons of Dundee, once Scotland’s most successful commercial photographers.

This book is a fascinating story of the Highland emigrants who travelled to Nova Scotia in the hope of, though deceived of a better life; how they rose above the deception and ensuing difficulties with the resilience and resourcefulness for which the Scots are best known.

Jim Craig’s unique style and presentation, allied with his superb professional knowledge, make this book a fascinating window into the Scots and their sporting world.

This volume deals with the time when many of the most significant and familiar episodes in Scottish history took place. The period was one in which Scotland was transformed, partly as a result of famous events, but largely because of more subtle and less perceptible changes in the constitutional, ecclesiastical and economic structure.

Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation c.1100-1707, volumes 1 and 3, the first in a five-volume set of textbooks, provide a comprehensive introduction to medieval and early modern Scotland.

Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation c.1100-1707, volumes 1 and 3, the first in a five-volume set of textbooks, provide a comprehensive introduction to medieval and early modern Scotland.

This new edition shows how Scottish courses are the most challenging in the world. Full of colour photographs and specially drawn maps, this book is the definitive guide for the serious golf enthusiast.

On December 5th, 1600, Pope Clement VIII founded and endowed the Scots College in Rome for the training of priests and, at least initially, the education of the sons of Scottish noblemen.

This is the new edition of the first ever comprehensive guide to the many ways in which wild plants have been used in Scotland from prehistoric times to the present day.

A Scots Quair, is Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s most renowned work, and has become a landmark in Scottish literature.

Using his own colourful experiences as a starting point, Joe Pieri looks back at the long history of the Scots-Italians.

Scotticisms in Grammar and Vocabulary investigates the historical development of the (mainly sociolinguistic) phenomena which favoured a process of increasing anglicisation in Late Modern Scots.

The first ever guide to over 150 beers and lagers produced in Scotland. Scotland’s long and distinguished brewing tradition is described, and each individual beer assessed, with tasting notes.

This book is intended to give the book trade from c.1500 to c.1720 a detailed examination, looking at booksellers, bookbinders, stationers and printers and their relationship to the forces of authority.

Enid Gauldie's fascinating study discusses in detail the origins of milling, the social context and daily life of the miller, as well as the technical aspects of the industry.

The countryside we see today is largely a man-made creation. Three hundred years ago, the landscape looked very different; it had a confused, fragmented appearance, with clusters of small farms, narrow strips of cultivated ground in a bare landscape wi
Read more >>

Scottish Customs is a highly readable and absorbing anthology of traditional Scottish customs and rites of passage, drawn from a broad range of literary sources dating back to the 16th century.

The Scottish Empire charts the involvement of the Scots in the British Empire from its earliest days to the end of the twentieth century. A fascinating and enlightening read.

This is a reprint in two volumes of the 1876 edition of Logan's famous work, edited with an introduction and memoir of the author by Alexander Stewart.

This is a reprint in two volumes of the 1876 edition of Logan's famous work, edited with an introduction and memoir of the author by Alexander Stewart.

Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks has been written both as a self-tuition course for beginners and also for use within the classroom. Each lesson in the book contains some essential points of grammar explained and illustrated, exercises, a list of new vocabulary (with a guide to pronunciation, in International Phonetics notation), and an item of conversation.

Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks has been written both as a self-tuition course for beginners and also for use within the classroom. Each lesson in the book contains some essential points of grammar explained and illustrated, exercises, a list of new vocabulary (with a guide to pronunciation, in International Phonetics notation), and an item of conversation.

This lavishly illustrated book is a celebration of the diversity of Scottish gardens and gardeners, past and present.

In this first title from Wildcountry Press, photographer David Paterson travels the length and breadth of Scotland, from the Borders to the Shetlands and from Aberdeenshire to the Outer Hebrides, in search for the landscapes which he captures in time for this beautiful book.

This wide-ranging volume considers Scotland’s domestic life by examining that variety and considering changes in the structures in which Scots have lived and the ways in which they have lived in those homes.

This bibliographic compilation, primarily of Scottish but with some comparative material, makes a substantial contribution to the resources available as guides to research and teaching.

A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology Volume 4. This volume traces the long-standing relationship between Scotland, the Scots and the sea from the early historic period to the present day.

Scottish Life and Society:A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology is a major project of the European Ethnological Research Centre in thirteen volumes. Each volume is a detailed examination of a social topic and can stand alone.

Read more >>

Volume 10 of the Compendium of Scottish Ethnology brings together a series of essays by a diverse range of authors on the themes of oral literature and performance culture. The topics covered in this volume include: narrative collection and performanc
Read more >>

This volume surveys Scotland's complex religious landscape from an ethnological perspective. Bringing together 28 contributors and ranging from the arrival of Christianity to religious diversity in the twenty-first century, it provides an authoritative commentary on the role that religion has played over the centuries in all aspects of Scottish life and society.

This third volume in the Scottish Life and Society series investigates the history of Scotland's buildings and other functional structures, including gardens and canals.

This book explores the nature of Scotland’s food in the past, including game and wild plants, cereals and dairy products, flesh and drink, whether home-brewed ale or wines from abroad. Through extensive research and examination of long-held customs, the author provides a detailed appraisal of the realities and complexities of the Scottish diet.

The Individual and Community Life is the fourth volume to appear in the planned fourteen volume series, A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, the major project of the European Ethnological Research Centre.

Insightful and meticulously researched, Scottish Mammals is an analysis of the impact of humans on the planet, as well as a riveting study of the facts and fictions associated with mammals in Scotland.

Scotland’s leading historians, old colleagues and former students have come together to celebrate the controversial quality of William Ferguson’s achievements. In doing so, they have created a book that is progressive and challenging - something that Ferguson was never afraid to confront.    

An informative and detailed checklist of native Scottish flora.

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right, and also the consorts, have largely been obscured and neglected. Rosalind K. Marshall addresses this oversight with a collection of mini-biographies, illuminating the fascinatin
Read more >>

In 1637 Scotland exploded in rebellion against King Charles I: the events that followed have traditionally been interpreted in terms of religious conflict, but while accepting the importance of religious inspiration, The Scottish Revolution prov
Read more >>

Drawing on first-hand accounts and contemporary correspondence, David Torrance paints vivid biographical portraits of the 39 men and one woman who have held the post of Scottish Secretary since the position was resurrected by Salisbury in 1885.

A.J. Bruford and D.A. MacDonald present an entertaining collection of the oral tales that have been passed down by generations of Scottish storytellers, and have been recorded and collected by researchers from the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University over the past fifty years.

Scottish Wild Plants provides a wealth of information about over 40 of the most rare and interesting wild plants in Scotland. Superbly illustrated throughout with Sydney Clarke’s stunning photographs.

These long interviews with very different Scottish writers do not aim at the topical, but to produce a thoughtful window on each writer's mind and work. Recorded at intervals over sixteen years, they go at the writer's chosen pace. Writers relish them.
Read more >>

A unique perspective on the history of Great Britain as we know it. Surpassing modern boundaries, Alistair Moffat brings together a country that was once united in its Celtic culture and history.

First and foremost the Vikings were travellers, roaming far to the east, south and west in their magnificent ships - the lords of the seas.

Rowena Farre’s simply powerful and touching autobiography is a moving insight into the private affectation of the raw Scottish Highlands on an unassuming girl. Seal Morning is a fascinating read of discovery and identity.

Seawolves is an exciting and thorough examination of Scots connected to piracy, whether they are victims or villains, real or literary.

July, 1700, Rome. Atto Melani mingles with other high-ranking guests at the villa of Cardinal Spada. Despite being there to celebrate the Cardinal’s nephew’s wedding, the main topic of conversation is the grave illness of the Pope and the approaching demise of Charles II. Melani, keen to see the French king ascend the Spanish throne, sets in motion a grandiose conspiracy that will plunge him into a world of secret languages, religious sects, forged Royal wills and Europe into war.

Seeds of Blood and Beauty sketches the lives and pratices of eighteenth and nineteenth century botanic explorers. In a time when the world was expanding through discovery, these men risked everything in search of the exotic and new.  

Following on from the bestselling success of his first volume, A Sense of Belonging to Scotland, photographer Andy Hall has compiled another impressive line-up of people and places. Among the participants are Emma Thompson and Colin Montgomerie.

Settlement and Sacrifice is an introduction to the people who lived in Scotland from around 1500 BC to AD 200. It was a time when people built impressive houses and settlements, but also one of war and human sacrifice as society was disturbed by quarrels over resources, land and wealth.        

This book is part of a newly updated edition of the acclaimed Making of Scotland series produced by Historic Scotland and Birlinn which provides lively, accessible and up-to-date introductions to key themes and periods in Scottish history and prehistory.

Frank Worsley’s account of the Shackleton Boat Journey remains the classic account of this extraordinary story.

The first in the McLevy series, this is wonderfully evocative detective fiction, based in dark, violent, Victorian Edinburgh.

The first in the McLevy series, this is wonderfully evocative detective fiction, based in dark, violent, Victorian Edinburgh.

Nury Vittachi’s debut Polygon novel. Primarily set in Hong Kong, this highly enjoyable read delves into the mysterious underworld of vegan terrorism that only a Feng Shui master can resolve.

AVAILABLE NOW

Read more >>

This book breaks new grounds in telling the stories of almost forgotten campaigns of the Royal Navy in which Scotland played a major part.

This meticulously researched book is a reference guide to shipping losses off the coast of Scotland from Stonehaven northwards to Duncansby Head, then westwards to Cape Wrath and the Minch. A thoroughly informative read aimed at both specialists and the general reader with an interest in this specialist area.

What happened to Shirley could happen to anyone. Might you be the next person to pay the terrible price of innocence? A true story of persistence and endurance brought to the forefront of the Scottish political consciousness by a mere fingerprint.

Sick Heart River is both John Buchan’s most powerful novel and his last, with perhaps the most autobiographical of his characters.    

The Sidlaws are a low range of hills running from Montrose in the east to Perth in the west. They are a rich source of traditional tales, legends, historical incidents and songs.

The Siege of Vienna in 1683 was one of the major turning points in European history. The hot September day that witnessed the last great trial of strength between Cross and Crescent opened an epoch in European history that lasted until the cataclysm of the First World War in 1914.

Exiled from China in 1933, Chiang Yee produced some of the most evocative travel books ever written. He was ‘dazzled’ by the Scottish capital and paints an unforgettable picture of Edinburgh in the 1940s.

Stuart McHardy introduces Scotland’s national musical instrument, its history, development and repertoire­ and examines the part that the piper himself has played in Highland and Lowland society over the centuries.

Selected Work of Marion Angus celebrates the legacy of Marion Angus, (1865-1946) one of Scotland’s finest lyric poets.

Between 1651 and 1851 successive clerks to the Kirk Sessions of Cramond carefully recorded the allegations of misbehaviour that were brought against parishioners.

This is a fabulous treasury of legend and wonder; tales of monsters who dwell in lakes, of small people who trap humans in earthen mounds where time stands still, and of dark, shape- shifting spirits whose cloak of human form is betrayed by the sand and shells which fall from their hair.

Crucial to control of the North Atlantic during the Second World War was knowledge of the weather: for the wolf packs and German raiders that lurked in these bitter seas this was the vital ingredient that would enable them to cut the vital arteries t
Read more >>

This double volume covers Naomi Mitchison's Edwardian childhood in Oxford and Scotland, as well as the development of her very personal thoughts and ideas during her teenage years as she grew to womanhood.

During the turbulent reigns of Mary Queen of Scots and James VI, the Jesuists played a significant role in preserving Catholicism in the land of John Knox. This book examines the political and religious aims of the Society of Jesus at the time.

The Soap Man brings to light a little known civil war between crofter and laird, lower and upper class, on the isle of Lewis.

This gripping novel, first published in 1960, helped confirm Robin Jenkins as one of the most outstanding novelists of his generation. Set in Afghanistan, it was written shortly after his return from his two-year period in Kabul, and his experiences there add an unmistakeable ring of authenticity to his descriptions of this mysterious and remote country. Some Kind of Grace is a terrible warning of what outside interference can do to a country. Throughout the book Jenkins’ sympathy is with a people sacrificed on the altar of dogma and convenience by the great powers of East and West.

The biography of one of Britain’s last real musical mavericks. This editions is fully updated to include testimonials by Martyn’s lovers, friends and fellow musicians.

A well-researched biography of one of Britain’s best musicians renowned for his rock antics.

Exhaustively researched yet eminently readable, this first book-length account of the historical Somerled assembles, evaluates and interprets the full spectrum of evidence.

This book forms a rich compendium of Gaelic song and history, and is a striking record of the vigour and range of the Gaelic tradition in Canada.

This is a history of the ruthless and systematic expansion of the ambitious Clan Campbell in 16th-century Scotland.

A collection of stories for younger readers from the author of Jessie's Journey, Jess Smith.

This marvellous historical novel, based on an intimate knowledge of the historical background and a perceptive understanding of human nature, is wonderful to read as fiction, as adventure, and as a history of people in the grip of exploitation and oppression. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece from one of Scotland’s greatest writers.

The Sporting Scot reveals the immense diversity and heroics of sportsmen and women in Scotland and is a wonderful celebration of the Scots’ literary love affair with sport.

Raymond Lamont-Brown presents in his insightful book the history of St Andrews bridging from the time of the Picts to the 21st century. A comprehensive and complete history of this remarkable Scottish town.

This book illuminates an event often over-shadowed by the tragedy of Dunkirk in the Second World War - that of the capture and valour of the 51st Highland Division in St Valery.

In this remarkable first novel, Lewis Grassic Gibbon sketched the lives of ordinary people living through the Jazz Age and the troubled sexuality of the times.

Glasgow humour has always been characterised by a scant regard for caution and reserve, and its extrovert and often surreal nature. No one exemplifies all these aspects better than Stanley Baxter, Glasgow’s best known and greatest comic genius.

A full-length history presenting the Stewarts with wit, sympathy and colour, giving emphasis to their passionate sexuality and sinister propensity for depression. The result is a story starring a startling collage of unforgettable personalities.

A fantastical adventure story for 9–11 year old readers, set on the Ardnamurchan peninsula a hundred years ago. Kirsten is determined to solve the disappearance of some of the crofters’ animals. But never did she think she would fall into an adventure so strange as the one she finds, so close to the peace of her home.

Instantly recognisable wherever she goes, Winnie Ewing is one of the most influential Scotswomen of her generation.

This collection of 42 stories comprises every type of tale found on the island of South Uist, including heroic Fingalian stories, international folktales, ghost stories and local historical and humorous anecdotes.

From East Lothian to Wisconsin, this vivid yet subtle autobiography charts the journey across the pond and the trepid development of a child to an adult with an extraordinary natural talent.

Douglas MacGowan’s vivid account of the celebrated murder case reads by turns like a thriller, a love story and a courtroom drama. He quotes extensively from contemporary sources, notably the correspondence between Madeleine and Emile, whose explicit content so shocked Victorian sensiblities. Ultimately he leaves it to the reader to judge Madeleine’s guilt or innocence.

Now reprinted for the first time since 1968, this is a collection of stories about the supernatural, collected in the late 1890s by Fatherr Allan McDonald, parish priest of the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides.    

This is the story of Glentrium - a family estate. Enduring many changes in volatile times, Sandra Hall vivaciously and fondly depicts the many industrious adventures she embarks upon in order to enjoy and survive the realities of Highland life.

The composed and hierarchal country estate was once a great functional animal in the 1920s. It was efficient, structured and social, and is generally thought to be lost in the 21st century with the great rise of the Bourgeoisie. However, this interesting book reminds us of a time that still exists, quietly adapting with the demands of modern life.

The Summer Walkers documents an archetypal and vanishing way of life.

This book is the story of a remarkable quest; a search for the history behind a faded photograph album discovered in a second-hand bookshop in Stockport in 1986.

Voted ‘The Best Scottish Book of All Time’ in 2005.

This is the first detailed history of Albion Motors, Scotland's most successful motor-manufacturing company, established in Glasgow in 1899.

This is the story of some pioneers who, during the nineteenth century, transformed the practice of surgery.

This book has now been firmly established for over fifty years as the great classic work on the origin, meaning and history of Scottish surnames.

This text examines the lore of the birch-bark canoe, the mystery of its traditional Native American construction, its key role in exploring the wilderness.

With new archaeological research, the ‘material culture’ of the Picts – their settlement, ways of life and burial practice – is slowly coming into focus and is fully represented in this fascinating book.

The definitive, entertaining guide to Scottish country dancing.

Based on stunning new archaeological evidence from across the pond and in Britain The Sword and the Grail details the involvment of the Order of the Knights of the Templar as the true discoverers of America.

Swords for Hire tells how a considerable proportion of the able-bodied male population of Scotland at one time sought service on behalf of almost every dynasty and monarch on the continent. Some were fleeing from justice, others went to seek fame and fortune – and found it.