We have just made available all the books published by James Leslie Mitchell (1901-1935) during his lifetime on our website. Included are the three novels he published under the pseudonym Lewis Grassic Gibbon namely “Sunset Song” (1932); “Cloud Howe” (1933) and “Grey Granite” (1934) which are collectively known as “A Scots Quair”. http://digital.nls.uk/lewis-grassic-gibbon-books
You can also read more about Lewis Grassic Gibbon/James Leslie Mitchell on our website. http://www.nls.uk/collections/lewis-grassic-gibbon
The digital copies are taken from the first editions and are full text so now you can read these works as they were first presented to the public.
The “A Scots Quair” trilogy and in particular the first volume “Sunset Song” are widely regarded as classics and have been adapted for cinema, television and theatre as well as being widely studied in schools and universities. Contemporary Scottish authors such as Ali Smith and Alan Warner cite the books as a major influence and journalist Jack Webster said he learnt everything he knew about writing from reading Lewis Grassic Gibbon. In 2016 “Sunset Song” was voted Scotland’s favourite book in a public poll conducted by the BBC.
Also included are the books published under the author’s birth name James Leslie Mitchell. These include his first novel “Stained Radiance” (1930) which is partly set in Scotland and “The Thirteenth Disciple” (1931) a novel with autobiographical elements. Mitchell was also a pioneering science fiction writer with “Three Go Back” (1932) and “Gay Hunter” (1934) and wrote a fictional account of the slave revolt in Rome with “Spartacus” (1933).
“Sunset Song” and the other volumes of “A Scots Quair” have never gone out of print but his other books are more difficult to get hold of. His first book “Hanno” a non fictional meditation on exploration and explorers has never been reprinted since its first appearance in 1928.
As many of us currently have a little more time on our hands this is an ideal opportunity to read or reread “Sunset Song” perhaps the greatest Scottish novel ever written and its sequels, as well as the other lesser known but fascinating works of James Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon.