30. Mar, 2022
Early Guides to Scotland, Parts 1 & 2
This has been a busy week for me, with the arrival of the final proofs of The Immeasurable Wilds from Whittles. So I have been a little slow in completing a two-part page on early guides to Scotland. My selection starts with those published at the very end of the 18th century, and includes Walford's Scientific Tourist through England, Wales and Scotland (1818), and of course The Guide to the Highlands which was written by the Anderson brothers and is the seminal work on the north in the mid-19th century. Whilst many guides are rather sketchy when it comes to describing the far north-west, those that do provide details, contain fascinating information regarding travel through the region. The ninth edition of Thomson's Traveller's Guide through Scotland (1829), for example, contains an account written by "a gentleman" in a letter of 1827. Some of it (the description of Loch Eriboll, for instance) is almost identical to that found in the Anderson guide which was published in 1834, which makes me think that this "gentleman" was none other than one of the Anderson brothers. If anyone can confirm this, I would be most grateful to hear from them (greywings89@gmail.com).