Wigtown-Scotland's National Book Town

Very welcoming sign board indeed. Let’s see if I can guess which nationality  lies behind each “Welcome”…

Willkommen … gotta be German.

Failte … for sure it is Gaelic.

Bienvenue … can’t miss this one as it is my native tongue: French.

Benvenuto … seems Italian to me.

Welkom … would guess Dutch.

Bienvenido… hum..absolutely, no clue. Let me google it. Well,well, well .. it is Spanish.

I’ll go to bed more vocabulary fluent tonight.

Upon  browsing through our photos , I thought it would be fun to share some more with our readers, but just before I insert them below, I’d like to invite you to view a => short video <= in which John Robertson, Project Manager of Wigtown Book Town, explains how Wigtown became Scotland’s National Book Town and what it’s like today.

The Book Shop - Wigtown

Now that we are more familiar with the story behind Wigtown, let’s tour inside The Book Shop, Scotland’s largest second hand bookshop with more than a mile long of shelving supporting approximately 65,000 books and which also happens to be the oldest bookshop in Wigtown !

The Book Shop - Wigtown

The Book Shop - Wigtown

This shop is a work of art.

George Galloway MP

To our greatest delight, we spent many many hours  in the Scottish section.

The Book Shop - Squeleton - Wigtownm

Scottish Room - The Book Shop - Wigtown

Scottish Room - The Book Shop - Wigtown

Wilson's Tales of the Borders

In the  complete overwhelming experience of discovering so many books in one place, while getting to discover antiquarian, old and out-of-prints books, I simply sat down on the floor and went through the books, one by one, torn by the idea of having to leave some behind. If I would have listened to myself, my return flight to Quebec would have tripled in cost just for the excess luggage weight.  But, nevertheless, I bought, amongst others, a big old illustrated edition of Wilson’s Tales of The Border.  I couldn’t resist!

The Bookshop - Wigtown

The Book Shop - Wigtown

On our next Scottish itinerary, we’ll certainly not leave Scotland without spending a day or two in Wigtown. That’s really a nice little town and of course, as we’ve already mentioned it, a fabulous place to buy books, especially the old ones we are looking for desperately and which have been out of print since a long time. I wouldn’t miss that for anything, even if it’s always a “tour de force” to put in the car piles of those ‘damned books’, as I know somebody is calling them secretly, a feeling that I can easily understand since our visit at Wigtown always takes place at the end of our Scottish journey when the car is already crowded with all the things we bring back from Scotland !

Welcome To Wigtown

Wigtown is situated in Dumfries & Galloway, south west of Scotland, close to Wigtown Bay, in the peninsula of the Machars. The nearest towns are Newton Stewart, a few miles in the north, and to the west, Stanraer which lies in the Rhinns of Galloway peninsula, on Loch Ryan, opening its door to the route to Ireland.

Wigtown is not a big town and it must have been very quiet before it launched itself as Scotland Book Town in 1997. When you walk along the picturesque streets of the town, eyes riveted to the inviting windows of the bookshops you may not realise how close you are from the bay nor that the town contains in itself some very interesting historical curiosities.

So, if you’re among the unlucky few who suffer from book phobia or if you only begin to feel a little tired of books you can always take an invigorating walk in the neighbourhood. You’ll get, if the weather is fine, superb views of Wigtown Bay and the Galloway Hills.

You can also visit the ruins of Wigtown’s old church and graveyard, what is left of the old harbour, have a look at the sinister Baldoon Castle and why not, end this periple by enjoying a dram of Bladnoch’s single malt whisky at the nearby distillery.

We still didn’t stay long enough in Wigtown to get a deep sense of place outside the bookshops, not enough time either to visit all the bookshops having spent long hours in only two or three of them.

There are about 1000 people in Wigtown and about a quarter of a million books, so there’s no hope for us to browse through all of them, even less to climb up ladders up to the highest levels of that reader’s paradise.

The Book Shop - Wigtown

Byre Books - Wigtown

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One of our favourite places is the The Book Shop, reputedly known as Scotland’s largest second hand book store. It is situated on North Main Street, not far from Historic Newspapers who won, in 2002, the UK’s Best Small Business Award.

You can’t miss The Book Shop with its beautiful façade. Inside you find yourself in a deep labyrinthine cavern of Ali Baba ! Another favorite one is Byre Books, but all bookshops are well worth a visit. There are treasures to be found everywhere and whatever your means are ! We look forward to going back there…

Here is  a list of Wigtown’s bookshops :

- AA1  Books/Ming Books

- Book Corner

- Byre Books

- GC Books Ltd – Book Warehouse

- M.E. McCarty

- ReadingLasses

- The Bookend Studio

- The Bookshop

- The Box of Frogs

- The Creaking Shelves Bookshop

- The Old Bank Bookshop

- Transformer

By the way, Janice, did you know it was going to be festival time in Wigtown ? How I’d like to be there then. It will last 10 days, between September 25th and October 4th. That’s a very well-known annual book festival with many authors invited !

This time, as the book festival does coincide with Scotland’s Homecoming 2009 it should prove to be particularly interesting. I’m going to study the programme. A little bird told me the theme of the 2009 festival would quite appeal to those who happen to like books as well as whisky. But, I’ll tell you more about this festival in my next post…

A bientôt.

“A must attend event in Scotland’s cultural calendar”

One of the “best autumn festivals in the world”

“Wigtown doesn’t just punch above its weight when it comes to attracting big-name authors to its annual book festival, it punches above pretty much everybody else’s weight, too”

“It’s refreshingly unstressed, set in stunning landscapes and with an enviably broad and sophisticated programme”

Scotland On Sunday

Rebus collected unread books. Once upon a time, he had actually read the books that he bought, but these days he seemed to have so little time. Also, he was more discriminating now than he had been then, back in the old days when he would read a book to its bitter end whether he liked it or not. These days, a book he disliked was unlikely to last ten pages of his concentration.

These were the books that lay around his living-room. His books for reading tended to congregate in the bedroom, lying in co-ordinated rows on the floor like patients in a doctor’s waiting-room. One of these days he would take a holiday, would rent a cottage in the Highlands or on the Fife coast, and would take with him all of these waiting-to-be-read or reread books, all of that knowledge that could be his for the breaking open of a cover.

By the way, do Inspector Rebus’s fans remember what is his favourite book ?

To rent a cottage in Scotland!

Dear Inspector Rebus    Is that not exactly what we would need to cope with our own pile of unread books?

Books and Food - Loch Croispol Bookshop and Restaurant

Let us think things over, Janice. What about a holiday in some remote island of the Hebrides? Or..wait a moment… beautiful landscapes… a peaceful atmosphere…our favourite bookshop just round the corner (in case we would lack books … and, last but not least, Kevin and Simon, the most friendly booksellers  (and publishers) we happened to meet in Scotland.

YES… let’s go to Durness!

Kevin & Simon cheerfully welcoming us in their bookshop

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We’ll call at Loch Croispol Bookshop and Restaurant.

Hey, not only food for thought there!

The Mitchell Library Entrance Hall -Books Exhibition - 2007

YES ! We’ll soon go there, but  until then, back to our unforgettable visit to The Mitchell Library.

The first thing we did on entering this temple of knowledge was to take pictures of all the books which were on display there.

A good way, we thought, to get an idea of what Glaswegians and Scottish people were reading. We should be able to establish a list of them very soon.

But it’s time to go out,  the library is closing  !

How majestic and impressive this Greek style building is with its imposing statues representing  literature, painting, architecture and music.

The Mitchell Library Dome - Learning - "Mrs Mitchell"

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The bronze statue on the library’s beautiful dome, was sculpted by Thomas John Clapperton (1879-1962) and it does represent “Learning” but Glaswegians affectionately call it “Mrs Mitchell” just to remind us that though  Stephen Mitchell never married, he did live in good company!

Scottish people are well known for their sense of humour but also for their pragmatism. Look carefully at the picture below.

The Mitchell Library - Outside Wall Statue-2007

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What do you think this gentleman holds in his hands ?

Not pencils, birds could tell you.

A new version of the old story of the thistle ?

A bientôt !

The Mitchell Library-2007

As you mentioned in your last post Mairiuna, Glasgow was chosen as the European City of Culture and I would like to emphasis a bit more on this “European” cover by telling you that since the extension was given to the building in the 70′-80′s, The Mitchell Library, one of Glasgow’s landmarks, now houses Europe’s largest public reference library with more than one million items available for reference!

Only lately did The Mitchell Library start to loan books and other documents.

I was so impressed by the atmosphere inside the old walls of the library when we last visited, that it stroke my imaginary for ever.

Being very spacious, the different areas of the library on it’s five levels, offer such a calm retreat from the agitation of the city that one tends to want to stay there all day long!

The Mitchell Library Entrance Hall - Kent Road-2007

Not only do you have access to food and drink at the cafeteria but more importantly, you gain access to food for thought…and believe me, there is more than you can digest!

A little bit of history?  Here goes.

The Mitchell Library - Outside Wall Statue-2007

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It all started with a thought in Stephen Mitchell’s mind back in the late 18th century.

Born in Linlithgow, Scotland, on September 19, 1789  (same birth day as my Dad, so it’s easy for me to remember) he was raised in a family well established in the tobacco industry.

When his father died, Stephen Mitchell took over the business, never married and finally retired with a move to Moffatt in 1859 until his passing day in 1874 after an accidental and mortal fall.

Funded by his estate, his will called for the creation of a public library in the city of Glasgow, “with all the modern accessories connected therewith”.

His name was to be given to the establishment and under no circumstances were books to be excluded from the reference categories due to restrictive opinions, religion matters or politics dissensions.

The Mitchell Library was opened to the public in November 1877 with approximately 15,000 volumes.

The Mitchell Library - Kent Road Entrance-2007

We will have to go back to this great library Mairiuna on our next visit to Glasgow, because it also holds the Glasgow City Archives and is considered one the world’s best resources for researching family history.

Since I am myself in the works of tracing my Scottish ancestors, I am convinced it will benefit my quest.

The Mitchell Library - Family History Resource Area-2007

My preliminary investigation into my family ancestral history starts with my grandmother ( on my father’s side) , Elisabeth Mitchelson.

Born in 1888, she was the first child of J.M.V.Mitchelson (Scottish) and Célanire Pelland Martin (French Canadian) who got married in 1881 in the city of Berthier, Province of Quebec, Canada. They also had a son, Roméo in May of 1894.

As of today, my genealogy tree goes as far as my grandmother’s grandfather, but much more to be found and verified.

Remember Mairiuna, how many graveyards we explored and searched to find tombs with the name “Mitchelson”, or “Mitchell”, and any other derivative names?

Glasgow Necropolis-2007

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But that is…by itself,  another story

I will come back to it eventually, and share my progress.

Talk soon !