History of Skye

by Alexander Nicolson, Alasdair Maclean

This is quite simply the best, the most detailed and authoritative history of the island yet written. Following the appearance of the first edition in 1930, the small print run sold out immediately, leaving those lucky enough to possess a copy, with an eagerly sought after, and invaluable source of knowledge on the Isle of Skye. Now, a second edition of this enduring work has been prepared in a newly revised and extensively enlarged form, to include references, bibliographical sources and appendices, full translations of Gaelic texts and numerous illustrations. This magisterial survey of an island and its people is once again available to all whose lives have been touched by its landscape and traditions.

Genres: Scotland

Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Alexander Nicolson was a Scottish lawyer and Gaelic scholar. He was sheriff-substitute of Kirkcudbright and Greenock, and pioneer of mountain climbing in Scotland.

Giving up theology while at the Free Church College, Nicholson for some time worked as one of the sub-editors of the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. He moved on, to the staff of the Edinburgh Guardian, a short-lived literary paper of high literary quality. For a year he edited an advanced Liberal paper, the Daily Express, which later was merged into the Caledonian Mercury.

Nicolson was called in 1860 to the Scottish bar. For ten years he reported law cases for the Scottish Jurist, of which he became editor. He acted as examiner in philosophy in the university, and examiner of births, etc., in Edinburgh and the neighbouring counties.

In 1883 Nicolson was appointed to the Napier Commission on the condition of the crofters because of his expertise on Gaelic culture. He was reponsible for the Commission's recommendation that Gaelic should be made a "specific subject" in schools and eligible for grants.