Books from Birlinn and Polygon

A collection of captivating essays in which Kelman discusses a wide range of issues connected to his views about the world, and the people and events that have influenced his writing.

Reproduced from the original publication of 1793, this edition includes additional special features such as reproductions of the original coloured drawings that Roy prepared for a presentation edition for King George III and a fascinating foldout map of the Antonine Wall, showing its route and plans of the many forts.

A great addition to Roy’s The Military Survey of Scotland 1747-55.

AVAILABLE JUNE 2008

David Kerr Cameron describes the rural upheavals and developments of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries towards the landscape we recognise today. The third in Cameron's trilogy of rural life.

With an introduction by Jack Webster.

This is a new series of pocket books designed to introduce some of the wealth of the spoken and written word in Scotland to those who may not be familiar with them.

Haldane’s work is one of the great classics of Scottish history.

AVAILABLE MAY 2008

Original literary fiction that tackles the tricky eighteenth-century problem of how to dissect an elephant.

The Endless Tide is a sweeping, imaginative, provocative work which functions on a micro- and macro-level, examining the continual cycle of humanity, and Scotland’s part in the process.

This is the first book-length study to examine the origins of the Declaration of Arbroath and the ideas upon which it drew, while tracing the rise of its mystic status in Scotland and exploring its possible impact upon Revolutionary America.

This is a new series of pocket books designed to introduce some of the wealth of the spoken and written word in Scotland to those who may not be familiar with them.

A brilliant collection of stories set in the tenements and cheap casinos of Glasgow, Manchester and London.

After Alastair McIntosh’s success with Soil and Soul which sold more than 10,000 copies, Birlinn Limited is pleased to introduce a major new work which critically examines climate change citing Scotland’s ecosystem as a microcosm for wider global effects.

From the golden merchant ship on top of the Merchant’s House, through the abandoned Britannia Panopticon Music Hall on Argyle Street, from the schoolroom in the attic of Trades House to the Lock Hospital for ’dangerous women’, this book takes us through the city of Glasgow.

The Iceman tells the astonishing story of Jamie Stevenson’s rise and subsequent fall as Scotland’s biggest crime lord whose empire spanned the globe and poured tons of drugs and guns onto the streets of Scotland.

What began as a simple sailing adventure to find a rare bird species turns out to be much more a revelation into the quiet and unassuming world of the Hebridean life. A personal and humanistic perspective.

This high-quality limited edition is a reproduction of the first large-scale atlas of Scotland organised by county. It provides an invaluable and accurate picture of Scotland prior to the Clearances and is also a highly significant milestone in the history of mapping.

Lost Bristol is an exploration of Bristol’s hidden past, its ways of life, legends, relationship with the sea and its role in English history. The book includes some of the more famous aspects of the city’s past, as well as stories and information unknown even to most locals.

In this informative and stimulating book, Hamish Coghill sets out to trace many of the lost buildings of Scotland's capital city and find out why they were doomed. Lavishly illustrated, Lost Edinburgh is a fascinating insight into an ever-changing cityscape.

‘To many, he is Asia’s funniest, most pungent columnist and author. To others, he is a subversive threat who must be watched like a hawk.’ - Herald Sun

This book contains a collection of essays on the Irish in Scotland for almost 20 years. It provides a reassessment of the Irish immigrant experience and offers social, cultural and religious development of Scotland over the past several years.

The only account in print of this famous naval disaster. One of the most thrilling of all wartime stories.

AVAILABLE MAY 2008

A diverse collection of stories gathered by singer, storyteller and author Sheila Stewart, one of the last in the line of Scotland’s travelling people.

Birlinn Limited presents a new series of diaries. With beautiful John Kay etchings throughout, the desk diary records landmark dates and ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment. An ideal gift.

Hamish Brown is a popular lecturer on travel and historical subjects, and his illustrated lectures on graveyard art are the most successful he has yet done. His new book provides a very different and yet highly engaging perspective of Scotland’s history.

AVAILABLE JUNE 2008

This first paperback edition charts the daring and pioneering contribution to global botany made by the great Scottish plant collectors of the 18th and 19th centuries. A fascinating insight into an extraordinary period of Scottish history.

This remarkable biography of Walter Smith reflects on the life and times of a man who went from football enthusiast as a boy to being propelled into the limelight as one of football’s most notorious managers in Britain.

In Tales from the Tent, Jess Smith – Scottish traveller, hawker, gypsy, 'gan-about' and storyteller – continues the unforgettable story of her life on the road. Unable to adjust to settled life working in a factory after leaving school, she finds herself drawn once again to the wild countryside of Scotland.

The successful Talking Balls series continues with this third instalment: another CD containing a full 70 minutes of the funniest moments from the Sony Award nominated Real Football Phone-in. All these clips happened live on air.