Edinburgh Library list of Scots language literature

Older Scots (prose)

Boece, Hector. The history and chronicles of Scotland, written in Latin by Hector Boece, canon of Aberdeen and translated by John Bellenden, archdean of Moray and canon of Ross. Edinburgh, 1821.

Hay, Sir Gilbert. The prose works of Sir Gilbert Hay vol 3: The buke of the ordre of knychthede and the buke of the gouernaunce. Edinburgh, Scottish Text Society, 1993.

The complaynt of Scotlande, wyth ane exortatione, ed Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner for the Early English 1872.


Older Scots (poetry)

Jack, R D S. The poetry of William Dunbar,  Aberdeen, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1997.
Accessible and brief criticism of Dunbar's poetry.

Dunbar, William. The tretis of the twa mariit wemen and the wedo, Glasgow, Scotsoun, 1999.

William Dunbar, 'the nobille poyet', ed Sally Mapstone, East Linton, Tuckwell, 2001.
Collection of essays on various aspects of Dunbar's poetry published to mark the publication o the 2 volume set of Dunbar's work edited by Pricilla Bawcutt.

The poems of William Dunbar, ed Priscilla Bawcutt, vol 1, Glasgow, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1998.

Dunbar, William. The poems of William Dunbar, Edinburgh, Mercat Press, 1932.
This edition contains notes and a glossary.

The Makars : the poems of Henryson, Dunbar and Douglas, ed., Edinburgh, Canongate Books, 1999.

Henryson, Robert. Selected poems of Robert Henryson and William Dunbar, London, Penguin, 1998.

Baird, Gerald. The poems of Robert Henryson, Aberdeen, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1996.

Henryson, Robert. The testament of Cresseid and other poems, selected by Hugh MaDiarmid, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1988.

McDiarmid, Matthew P. Robert Henryson, Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1981.

MacQueen, John. Robert Henryson : a study of the major narrative poems, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1967.


Robert Burns

Bold, Alan. A Burns companion, Basingstoke, Lacmillan, 1991.

Burns, Robert. The complete works of Robert Burns, Ayr, Alloway Publishing, 1986.

Burns, Robert. Two glossaries : the glossaries to the Kilmarnock and Edinburgh poems, Stirling, University of Stirling Bibliographical Society, 1987.

Daiches, David. Robert Burns, the poet, Edinburgh, Saltire Society, 1994.

Lindsay, Maurice. The Burns encyclopedia, New York, St Martin's Press, 1980.

Mackay, James. Burns : a biography of Robert Burns, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 1992.

Scots words from Burns : a glossary of words used in the works of Robert Burns, Edinburgh, Albyn Press, 1975.

Wilkie, George Scott. Select works of Robert Burns : verse, explanation & glossary, Glasgow, Neil Wilson, 1999.

Wilkie, George Scott. Understanding Robert Burns : verse, explanation & glossary, Glasgow, Neil Wilson, 2002.


Robert Fergusson

Daiches, David. Robert Fergusson, Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1982.

Fergusson, Robert. Selected poems, Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2000.

Heaven-taught Fergusson : Robert Burns favourite Scottish poet, East Linton, Tuckwell Press, 2003.


Hugh MacDiarmid

Bold, Alan. MacDiarmid : the terrible crystal, London, Routledge & Kegan, 1983.

Buthlay, Kenneth. Hugh MacDiarmid, Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1982.

Glen, Duncan. Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve), W & R Chambers 1964.

Riach, Alan. The poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid, Glasgow, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1999.

MacDiarmid, Hugh and Muir, Edwin. For the Vernacular Circle (The Bulletin January 1938) in Scottish Studies Review Spring 2005.

McCulloch, Margery Palmer. Visionaries and Revisionaries : Ossian, Burns and MacDiarmid, in 'Scotlands' 4.1.1997.

Scottish Studies Review Vol 2 No 2 Autumn 2001


Irvine Welsh

Morace, Robert A. Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting : a reader's guide, New York, Continuum, 2001.
Short criticism which includes a biography of the author and a study of the novel including a look at the  'linguistic system' the writer uses.

Kelly, Aaron. Irvin Welsh, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2005.
Overview of Welsh's major works. There are references to Welsh's use of language including 'language and power', but the use of language is not examined in great depth.


Tom Leonard

Leonard, Tom. Reports from the present : selected work 1982 - 94, London, Cape, 1995.

Leonard, Tom. Intimate voices : selected work 1965 - 1983, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Galloping Dog, 1984.

Leonard, Tom. Tom Leonard, Glasgow, National Book League, 1987.

Articles relating to Tom Leonard:-
Cencrastus no20 Spring 1985
Cencrastus no22 1986
Studies in Scottish Literature Vol xxiii
Chapman no102-103 2003
Scottish Studies Review vol5 no2 Autumn 2004