The Gaelic Community

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Scholars concur that the first recorded instance of a Gaelic book published in Scotland was Bishop John Carswell's Book of Common Order, commonly known as 'Knox's Liturgy', prepared in 1567 by Church of Scotland reformers and adherents of John Knox following the Reformation. Subsequent Gaelic texts were few and sporadic. Throughout much of the nineteenth century, Gaelic publishing consisted mainly of religious and educational texts such as Bibles, catechisms and school readers, sponsored mainly by the SSPCK (Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge). Late nineteenth and early twentieth century Gaelic publications were focused on periodicals such as the short lived An Gaidheal (1871-1877), the bi-lingual Celtic Magazine and Celtic Monthly, and journals such as Am Bàrd, Guth na Bliadhna, An Deò Gréine, An Sgeulaiche, and An Rosarnach.

In the second half of the twentieth century, publishers began printing material deriving from its rich oral culture: such initiatives gained great impetus with the revival of support and interest in Gaelic culture in the 1950s and 1960s. This was achieved both through direct state support (with the founding of the Gaelic Books Council in 1968, funded initially by the Scottish Education Department and later by the Scottish Arts Council), and through cultural and educational initiatives, such as ethnographic collections created by John Lorne Campbell, Calum Maclean, Hamish Henderson and others connected to the University of Edinburgh's School of Scottish Studies, the founding of Gaelic publications such as the literary journal Gairm in 1951, and the inclusion of Gaelic columns in Scottish newspapers such as the Scotsman, the Stornoway Gazette and the West Highland Free Press. Recently founded Gaelic focused publishing imprints such as Ur-sgeul, supported by the Gaelic Books Council, attest to the revival of a Gaelic reading audience interested in new work, and a renaissance of Gaelic literary writing that has gathered pace since the 1980s.

David Finkelstein