Lot 169
Orkney - Brown, George Mackay - "The Orcadian" - "Letter from Hamnavoe"
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 28 January 2015 at 11:00 GMT
Description
17 autograph essays by George Mackay Brown, entitled Letter from Hamnavoe, contributed to The Orcadian, each 2 or 3 pages, all initialled "G.M.B.", undated
Footnote
Note: Gerald G.A. Meyer, writing as "Geremy" was editor of The Orcadian for nearly four decades, during which time George Mackay Brown wrote weekly columns for the newspaper. The two best-known columns were Letter from Hamnavoe and Under Brinkie's Brae. In 1947 Gerald Meyer stood in as temporary editor of The Orcadian, intending to stay only a few weeks, but stayed on for 36 years, transforming the paper, increasing its circulation and attracting a lot of new literary talent to write for the paper, including Eric Linklater, Edwin Muir, Robert Rendall, George Mackay Brown, Harald Leslie QC, Jo Grimond and artist Stanley Cursiter. Inevitably many of these became close friends of Meyer. It was Meyer who brought George Mackay Brown to the paper to write his weekly piece in the Stromness column, as well as Betty Grieve (“Countrywoman”) and Mary Borwick (“On the Farm”).