Sgeul Sketch A5 Notebook

Lined notebook featuring a Highland landscape surrounded by folktale characters, drawn in pen and ink with whisky and peat soot, c 1860.  This scene was drawn by John Francis Campbell of Islay (1821 to 1885). 

In 1859, folklorist John Francis Campbell of Islay began to collect Scottish Gaelic folktales which at that time were almost unknown beyond the Highlands. He worked with a team of helpers who travelled across the western Highlands and Islands of Scotland meeting with storytellers and gathering folktales. 

The illustrations are taken from the manuscript diaries kept by Campbell and the watercolours he painted. 

The John Francis Campbell archive is held in the National Library of Scotland’s collections. 

 21 x 15 cm approx