Information Services

Norman MacCaig Materials on Other Scottish Authors

The Norman MacCaig Papers (Coll-69) contain material on or by a number of other Scottish writers represented in EUL Special Collections.

This includes both creative material, including poems on his close friends Hugh MacDiarmid and Sydney Goodsir Smith, and critical and biographical writings.

Authors

George Mackay Brown

  • Notes on George Mackay Brown and Iain Crichton Smith - MS (MS 3202/4)
  • Review of A Spell for Green Corn by George MacKay Brown - MS (MS 3203/4/23)
  • Review of A Calendar of Love by George Mackay Brown - MS and corrected TS (MS 3203/4/53)
  • Review of poems by George Mackay Brown - MS (MS 3203/4/66)

Robert Burns

  • 'Ballad to Robert Burns' - 2 MS drafts (MS 3198/77-78)
  • Folder of notes for Burns Night celebrations - MS and TS (MS 3202/1)
  • Notes on Burns - MS (MS 3203/2/2)

Robert Ferguson

  • 'Robert Ferguson' - TS notes with MS corrections (MS 3203/2/6)

Maurice Lindsay

  • Review of This Business of Living by Maurice Lindsay (MS 3203/4/28)
  • Reviews of Modern Scottish Poetry, ed. Maurice Lindsay, and Scottish Poetry 1, ed. George Bruce, Maurice Lindsay and Edwin Morgan - MSS (MS 3203/4/64)

Hugh MacDiarmid

Poems

  • 'Hugh MacDiarmid' - MS and TS (MS 3198/46-47)
  • 'Hugh MacDiarmid's Lyrics' - MS and TS drafts (MS 3198/62-63)
  • 'Hugh MacDiarmid' - MS (MS 3198/123)
  • 'Two Thoughts of MacDiarmid in a Quiet Place' - MS and TS (MS 3199/223-224)

Broadcasts

  • 'The Indivisible Man', script of radio broadcast on MacDiarmid transmitted 3 July 1957 - TS (MS 3202/15/12)

Reviews

  • Transcript of review of MacDiarmid's Stony Limits and Scots Unbound, broadcast on Arts Review (BBC Scottish Home Service), 19 March 1957 - TS (MS 3203/1/10)
  • Review of MacDiarmid's Collected Poems, 1920-1976 - MS (MS 3203/4/9)
  • Review of The Uncanny Scot, ed. K. Buthlay - MS (MS 3203/4/41)

Notes

  • Notes on Lucky Poet by Hugh MacDiarmid - TS and MS (MS 3202/15/4)
  • Notes on A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle by Hugh MacDiarmid - TS and MS (MS 3202/15/5-6, MS 3202/15/8-9, MS 3203/2/19)
  • Notes on To Circumjack Cencrastus by Hugh MacDiarmid - TS and MS (MS 3202/15/7)
  • 'A Note on the Author' - MS and TS notes (MS 3202/15/10)
  • Miscellaneous notes on MacDiarmid (MS 3202/15/13)
  • 'Introduction to MacD. for 17 year olds, Feb. 1981' - MS notes (MS 3203/2/8)

Compton Mackenzie

  • Review of My Life and Times by Compton Mackenzie, octave 4 - MS (MS 3203/4/67)
  • Review of My Life and Times by Compton Mackenzie, octaves 9-10 - MS (MS 3203/4/22)

Edwin Muir

  • Biographical sketch of Edwin Muir - MS (MS 3202/5/1)
  • Sketch of Edwin Muir's life and work - MS (MS 3202/5/2)
  • Obituary for Edwin Muir - TS (MS 3202/5/3)
  • Transcript of review of J. C. Hall's Edwin Muir broadcast on Arts Review (BBC Scottish Home Service), 26 February 1956 - TS (MS 3203/1/18)
  • Review of Peter Butter's book Edwin Muir - MS (MS 3203/4/54)

Sydney Goodsir Smith

Literary MSS and Proofs by Smith

  • Fifteen Poems and a Play (1968), TS (MS 3207/6)
  • ‘Three Men Make a Revolution’, TS of poem included in anthology of Scottish verse edited by MacCaig for Poetry Review (ca. 1965) (Gen 767/28/15)
  • 'In Time of Deepest Wanhope' and 'Reflections in a Glass', proofs of poems (MS 3202/16/2)
  • 'The Riggins of Chelsea', proof of essay (MS 3202/16/3)

Poems by MacCaig

  • 'The Great Auk and the Hippogriff' - TS (MS 3207/3/17)

Critical Writings by MacCaig

  • Notes on Sydney Goodsir Smith and his poems - MS and TS (MS 3202/16/1)
  • Transcript of review of Sydney Goodsir Smith’s Under the Eildon Tree broadcast on Arts Review (BBC Scottish Home Service), 19 November 1948 - TS (MS 3203/1/14)
  • 'Sydney Goodsir Smith and the Scottish Renaissance', proof of article (MS 3203/4/7)

Correspondence

  • Letter from Smith to MacCaig, 12 January 1949, with TS of poem 'The Octopus, or, His Muse Fled' (MS 3204/2/8)
  • Letter from Hugh MacDiarmid to MacCaig, 8 December 1952, including criticism of Smith's So Late into the Night (MS 3204/2/9/1)

Fred Urquhart

  • Transcript of review of Scottish Short Stories, ed. Fred Urquhart broadcast on Arts Review (BBC Scottish Home Service), 17 September 1957 - TS (MS3203/1/15)

Material on Other Scottish Writers

The MacCaig papers also contains reviews and notes on: David Daiches (MS 3203/4/30, MS 3203/4/61), Robin Fulton (MS 3203/4/48), Robert Garioch (MS 3202/2, MS 3203/4/2-4), Eric Linklater (MS 3203/4/40), John McGrath (MS 3203/4/24), William McIlvanney (MS 3203/4/57), Gavin Maxwell (MS 3203/4/55), Edwin Morgan (MS 3203/4/20), Willa Muir (MS 3203/4/63), Alexander Scott (MS 3203/2/3, MS 3203/4/17, MS 3203/4/20-21, MS 3203/4/47), Alan Sharp (MS 3203/4/60), Burns Singer (MS 3203/1/16), and Iain Crichton Smith (MS 3202/3-4, MS 3203/4/36, MS 3203/4/43).

Further Details

For a fuller listing, see the Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue and, for post-1987 accessions only, Handlist H69. For earlier accessions, see also the manual Index to Manuscripts held in the Centre for Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library.