Edinburgh

     I bought this little book yesterday to give to someone who will be visiting Edinburgh for the first time soon, and I think it provides an excellent introduction to the city in snapshot form.

    Photographs of Edinburgh by Colin Baxter is diminutive in size (under 5"x7") as well as price: £2.95 on the cover (and even cheaper here), so at about the cost and dimensions of a greetings card, it's excellent value!

    From the grand vistas to the small details, here are glimpses of - and I quote the short introduction - "the 'Edinburgh' of the refined and the 'Embra'* of ordinary folk". But here's the opening sentence, and how right it is, too: "Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world [cheer, locals!] - a 'once seen, never forgotten' kind of place. The mere sight of the mighty castle, perched on its rock and towering over all in its shadow, is one that will live long in its memory."

*You may like to know that H.R.H. Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh is known in the vernacular as 'Ra Chookie Embra'!

Comments

[Joanna]

Colin Baxter raised the bar for postcards - I never buy any others when I'm in Scotland, the're never as nice

Joanna

[Mary]

Now I know what my first purchase will be when I arrive in Edinburgh next month! Thanks.

[Dark Puss]

Mary, if you do not already own it, may I suggest that your second purchase be Edinburgh (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Scotland) by J Gifford, Yale University Press; New edition (1984), ISBN-13: 978-0300096729

I think you will find it both fascinating and invaluable during your stay in Edinburgh.

[Mr Cornflower]

And a third might be Looking up in Edinburgh by Jane Peyton (in Cormflower's right hand side bar under 'Art and Architecture', as is the Pevsner); based on the insight that most of us, most of the time, look at what is at eye level, thereby missing out on a wealth of fascinating detail. (The same insight is known intuitively to successful practitioners of children's hiding games.)

[Mary]

Thanks Cornflower and Dark Puss for more great suggestions. I love bookstores so it will be fun to search these gems out on my visit.

[Fran]

On my last trip to Edinburgh I came across a building- in the street at the side of Jenner's leading up to St Andrews[?] Square. It was covered with quotes about the city as part of Inspirational Edinburgh and there are more as you come into the main airport from the gates.
Two I noted down:
"This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful. it breaks the heart again and again." Alexander McCall Smith

" On a breeze
Catch the past
A cobble mile
Of trodden path.

Feel it's life
Course through
Your veins
You'll never leave
All will stay" Helen Walker Walk on an Edinburgh Street

Both sum up well how I feel about the city.

[Cornflower]

Yes, I've seen these too, and they are so apt.