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Introduction
Book In Print 2009
Forthcoming Titles
Amazon.co.uk Store

 

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Latest News

January 2009

The new edition of The Orkney Norn will be available in March. As noted earlier, it features an introduction by Dr Robert McColl Millar of Aberdeen University. Dr Millar is well-known for his work as a historical linguist. His book Northern and Insular Scots was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2007.

All of our Orkney books are available for purchase from our Amazon.co.uk store. In addition to our own publications, our Amazon.co.uk store stocks an eclectic selection of Scottish-interest titles (and a few other books besides!)

From time-to-time we get inquiries about Robert Marwick's Rousay Roots. Rousay Roots is long out of print but is available on the web via this link. Please note that we had nothing to do with the publication of the printed editions of Rousay Roots - it was entirely self-produced and self-published by Robert himself.

 

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Introduction

Brinnoven publishes a small number of Scottish-interest titles, focussing on local history, natural history, dialects and languages.

Our books are available from any good bookshop in the UK.

Alternatively, we are happy to supply books by mail order and all of our titles are available on Amazon.co.uk.

We are happy to answer any queries you may have by e-mail.

 

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Books in Print 2009

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New edition.

Details will be posted soon.

 The Orkney Norn

Hugh Marwick

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Wildlife of Rousay etc Cover

 The Wildlife of Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre

Craig Whyte, ISBN 1-899851-05-4, 96 pages, 32 illus, pbk, £5.99

Orkney is a land awash with natural and cultural treasures; nowhere more so than on the islands of Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre. These three isles share an archaeological, historical and natural heritage that is as rich as any comparable area of northern Europe.

Join Craig Whyte, one-time warden of the RSPB reserve on Rousay, as he takes you on a journey through a diverse landscape of windswept heather-clad hills, lush green pastures, rich wetlands, dramatic sea cliffs and soft, sheltered shores. You will discover a land of birds, seals, otters and wild fl owers; a land in which people and wealth of wildlife have lived side by side for countless generations.

A systematic list of bird species, including records dating from the mid nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, is a valuable resource for the birdwatcher, while the author’s colourful habitat descriptions, with reference to his personal experience of the islands, forms the main body of text.

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In Dreams We Moor Cover

 In Dreams We Moor

Robert C. Marwick, ISBN 1-899851-04-6, 96 pages, 22 illus, pbk, £5.99

An exile returns to take an affectionate look at his birthplace, Rousay, the most scenically beautiful of the Orkney Islands. As he meanders around the island he marvels at its wealth of archaeological treasures left behind there by Stone Age man 5000 years ago, and by the Picts and the Norsemen who tilled this soil and fished these seas in later times. Stories, ancient and modern, tell of the constant struggle of island life, a struggle relieved only by the homely humour that seemed to be found in the most unlikely situations. As the ever-changing scene unfolds, childhood memories are awakened, some poignant, some amusing and others which simply reflect the times from which they come and the nature of the islesfolk themselves. The author cherishes most of what he finds on his journey for, in essence, this is a love story of an islander for his island.

Now here's a book that will heat the cockles of your heart and put that warm shiver up your back. If you are someone who knows Rousay, especially if you are an exile, this is the book for you...But it is not just for the person who knows Rousay, it is also a brilliant book for the prospective visitor. The author guides you round the island, while giving you an insight into past and present history.

The book is so well written that one feels an empathy with all the different characters and places the author describes. The photographs have been well chosen to set off the text and to give you a taste of some of Rousay's spectactular scenery.

The Orkney View

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From My Rousay Schoolbag Cover

 From My Rousay Schoolbag

Robert C. Marwick, ISBN 1-899851-03-8, 85 pages, 22 illus, pbk, £7.50

This book is the result of Robert C. Marwick's research into the history of the schools on his native island of Rousay, in Orkney.

Contents: Preface, 'A School in every Parish' John Knox, 'Society' Schools, Rousay's Parish School, The Assembly School, The Free Kirk School, Rousay School Board, Rousay Schools 1918-1960, Rousay Community School, Gleanings from the School Logbooks, Tales out of School, Teachers, Appendix.

To have a book placed for sale in Kirkwall shops one week and be sold out awaiting more copies the next says more for its merit than a mere reviewer can...The history is told in short, easily digested chapters and covers schools in the three main districts...This is followed by "Gleanings from the School Log Books" which should prove a real eye-opener for present and future scholars. Thereafter comes "Tales out of School", potted versions of former pupils' memories: some of these make hilarious reading...Six short tables of statistics which appear at intervals throughout the book are informative, and add considerably to one's understanding of the text.

The Orkney View

 

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Forthcoming Titles

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The Orkney Norn

(The A4 edition is out of print. A new edition is due March 2009)

Hugh Marwick, ISBN 1-899851-??-?, TBD pages, pbk, £TBD

Although it was originally published in 1929, The Orkney Norn is still the most authoritative work ever published on the Orcadian language. In addition to a dictionary of Norn words this book also contains a history of the Orkney Norn tracing its phonological development from Old Norse, fragments of old rhymes and riddles, an examination of the 12th-century Maeshow runes and printed specimens of Orkney Norn from the 14th and 15th centuries.

What can one say except that it is a long awaited event. The book itself needs no introduction, containing as it does a definitive history of the Norn language and a wealth of words salvaged from oblivion...This reprint is, as we have come to expect from Brinnoven, better than the original. The pages are bigger, the print clearer and it is altogether more easily read. There is the added bonus of an excellent article about Dr Marwick's work.

The Orkney View

 

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The Place-Names of Rousay

(The A4 edition is out of print. A new edition is due in 2008)

Hugh Marwick, ISBN 1-899851-??-?, TBD pages, 2 illus, pbk, £TBD

Born on the Orkney island of Rousay in 1881 Hugh Marwick became one of the most prolific Orcadian scholars of the 20th century. He wrote what are still regarded as the seminal works on Orcadian place-names and the Orcadian language. Originally published in 1947 this volume is dedicated to his fellow islanders, and contains a fascinating description of the origin of the place-names on his native island.

If it is possible to improve on the original edition of the book, then Brinnoven has succeeded in doing so. I venture to think that Dr Marwick himself would have approved of the editing and it certainly helps to clarify the text in places. Added bonuses are a short biography of Dr Marwick and a list of his published work.

The Orkney View

 

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Selected Papers Vol 1

(The A4 edition is out of print. A new edition is in preparation.)

Hugh Marwick, ISBN 1-899851-??-?, 161 pages, 4 illus, pbk, £10.00

A collection of early papers by the renowned Orcadian scholar originally published in The Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society and The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Contents: Celtic Place-Names in Orkney, Place-Names of North Ronaldsay, Orkney Farm Name Studies, Antiquarian Notes on Sanday, Rousay, Papa Westray (inc place-names) & Stronsay (inc place-names), Leidang in the West.

It is now about seventy years since some of these articles appeared, yet they are by no means forgotten. Dr Marwick's reputation remains high, not just in Orkney, but in British and Scandinavian academic circles where place-names and settlement are studied...The articles which have best survived the passage of time are the various "Antiquarian Notes" a rich hotch-potch of place-names, saga interpretation, history, folk-lore and description of archaeological sites. Some of the archaeological material is out-dated, but the articles remain the most frequently used source for researching the general historical background of the North Isles.

The Orkney View