Books from Norman MacCaig's Library

Edinburgh University Library holds 139 books from the library of the poet Norman MacCaig. There are inscribed copies of works by fellow poets, including Hugh MacDiarmid, Seamus Heaney, Sydney Goodsir Smith and Edwin Morgan. The collection includes a heavily annotated copy of MacDiarmid’s A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (SD 9065) and private printed poetic Christmas cards from Seamus Heaney.

There are also volumes of Robert Louis Stevenson (SD 9024, 9027-2028) and William Blake (SD 9025) awarded to MacCaig as school prizes and a number of works of Gaelic grammar. The books are all catalogued online as part of Edinburgh University Library's Main Catalogue (at shelfmarks SD 9008-9155). See below for a list of inscribed volumes.

Inscribed and Presentation Copies

Norman MacCaig's Library contains inscribed or presentation copies of works by the following authors:

Sean A. Brophy

  • The Awakening (1992) (SD 9086)

Ron Butlin

  • The Sound of my Voice (1987) (SD 9052)

Joseph Chiari

  • Impressions of People and Literature (1948) (SD 9101)
  • Symbolisme from Poe to Mallarmé (1956) (SD 9103)

Alastair Clark

  • Aly Bain: Fiddler on the Loose (1993) (SD 9044) (inscribed by Aly Bain)

Gavin Ewart

  • Twelve Apostles (1970) (SD 9152)

G. S. (George Sutherland) Fraser

  • News from South America (1949) (SD 9098)

Stanley Roger Green

  • Advice to Travellers (1990) (SD 9124)

George Campbell Hay

  • Seeker, Reaper (1988) (SD 9037) (inscribed by illustrator Archie MacAlister)

Seamus Heaney

  • Changes (1980) (SD 9151)
  • A Hazel Stick for Catherine Ann (1983) (SD 9153)
  • Hailstones (1984) (SD 9125)
  • From the Republic of Conscience (1985) (SD 9127)
  • The Haw Lantern (1987) (SD 9038)
  • The Settle Bed (1989) (SD 9131)
  • The Redress of Poetry (1990) (SD 9126)
  • Tollund (1994) (SD 9128)

John Heath-Stubbs

  • A Ninefold of Charms (1989) (SD 9122)

Yair Hurvitz

  • Yehasim u-de'agah (1986) (SD 9074)

Colin Kerr

  • The Mud is Quiet (1993) (SD 9123)

Hugh MacDiarmid

  • Annals of the Five Senses (1923) (SD 9072)
  • Second Hymn to Lenin (1932) (SD 9121)
  • Cunninghame Graham: A Centenary Study (1952) (SD 9088)
  • A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, 2nd ed. (1953) (SD 9035)
  • Selected Poems (1954) (SD 9081)
  • Francis George Scott: An Essay (1955) (SD 9120)
  • In Memorium James Joyce (1955) (SD 9105)
  • Stony Limits (1956) (SD 9082)
  • The Battle Continues (1957) (SD 9078)
  • Burns Today and Tomorrow (1959) (SD 9071)
  • A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, 4th ed. (1962) (SD 9065) (heavily annotated by MacCaig)
  • Collected Poems (1962) (SD 9066)
  • The Ministry of Water (1964) (SD 9137)
  • The Fire of the Spirit (1965) (SD 9138)
  • Collected Poems, Rev. ed. (1967) (SD 9073)
  • A Lap of Honour (1967) (SD 9079)
  • The Uncanny Scot (1968) (SD 9049)
  • Selected Essays (1969) (SD 9076)
  • More Collected Poems (1970) (SD 9077)
  • Metaphysics and Poetry (1975) (SD 9108)

William and Norah Montgomerie

  • The Hogarth Book of Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1964) (SD 9036)

Edwin Morgan

  • Hugh MacDiarmid (1976) (SD 9119) (inscribed by MacDiarmid)
  • Scottish Satirical Verse (1980) (SD 9056) (inscribed by Morgan)

Edwin Muir

  • Selected Letters of Edwin Muir (1974) (SD 9045) (inscribed by Gavin Muir, the poet's son)
  • Idem (SD 9053) (inscribed by the editor P. H. Butter)

William Neill

  • A Hantle of Romanesco sonnets bi Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1995) (SD 9132)

Sydney Goodsir Smith

  • Under the Eildon Tree (1948) (SD 9135)
  • The Aipple and the Hazel (1951) (SD 9117)
  • So Late in the Night (1952) (SD 9155)
  • Cockils (1953) (SD 9115)
  • Omens (1955) (SD 9130)
  • Figs and Thistles (1959) (SD 9050)
  • Carotid Cornucopius (1964) (SD 9055)
  • Kynd Kittock's Land (1965) (SD 9154)
  • A Choice of Burns's Poems and Songs (1966) (SD 9033)
  • Gowdspink in Reekie (1974) (SD 9129)

Roderick Watson

  • MacDiarmid (1985) (SD 9032)

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