Highland Folk Ways

A classic book that traces the traditions and organisation of rural life in the Highlands. The work remains a particularly valuable account of traditional Highland crafts, beliefs, occupations and domestic life, drawing upon historical research and personal recollections.

The book is well illustrated with an extensive quantity of pencil drawings by Mollie MacEwen.

 

Isabel Frances Grant (1887–1983): Scottish Folklorist, Historian and Cultural Preservationist.

Isabel Frances Grant was a pioneering Scottish folklorist, historian and ethnographer whose determination to preserve the traditional way of life in the Highlands made her one of the most influential figures in Scottish cultural heritage during the twentieth century.

 

Born in Edinburgh on 3 March 1887, Grant came from a family with strong Highland connections. Her upbringing fostered a lifelong interest in Gaelic culture, Highland customs and the everyday lives of rural communities. She became particularly concerned that traditional skills, domestic crafts and agricultural practices were disappearing as Scotland underwent rapid social and economic change.

 

Grant's greatest achievement was the establishment of the Highland Folk Museum, which began at Iona in 1935 before moving to Laggan and subsequently Kingussie. It was Britain's first mainland open-air museum, dedicated to preserving the material culture of Highland life. Through the collection of furniture, tools, clothing, household objects and agricultural implements, she sought to demonstrate how ordinary Highland people had lived and worked over previous centuries.

 

Grant was also a prolific author, producing important studies of Highland history, folklore and social customs. Her publications included Every-day Life on an Old Highland Farm (1924), The Lordship of the Isles (1935), The Clan Grant (1955) and her celebrated Highland Folk Ways (1961). The latter remains a particularly valuable account of traditional Highland crafts, beliefs, occupations and domestic life, drawing upon historical research and personal recollections. 

 

In recognition of her achievements, Grant received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1948 and was appointed MBE in 1959.

 

She died in Edinburgh on 19 September 1983, aged 96. Her legacy survives through the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore and her writings, which remain essential resources for understanding Scotland's Highland cultural heritage.

This is a fine copy with a good original un-clipped dustcover with just some light fraying around the top and bottom edges and a small tape repair to a tear at the top spine area. Inside the pages are clean and bright throughout. There is a gift message and date (13.11.61) in ink on the inside end-paper.

 

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