Birlinn (publisher) explained

Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew.^{[2] [3]}

Imprints

Birlinn Limited is composed of a number of imprints, including:

• Birlinn, which publishes Scottish interest books, from biography to history, military history and Scottish Gaelic. (Its name comes from the old Norse word Norse, Old: [[birlinn]], meaning a long boat or small galley with 12 to 18 oars, used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages.^[4])
• Polygon Books, which publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern, from Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown, and the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith. It was founded in the late 1960s by students of the University of Edinburgh.^[5]
• Mercat Press, founded in 1970 and acquired by Birlinn in 2007, which publishes walking and climbing guides. (Mercat is the Scots language word for "market" or "trade".^[6])
• John Donald, publishing academic books about Scotland.^[7]

Digital Publishing and Ebooks

Birlinn makes its titles available as ebooks through its own website as well as through other online retailers.^[8]

In collaboration with TannerRitchie Publishing and Edinburgh University Press, Birlinn publishes Scotland's History Online, a major collection of new and backlist academic Scottish historical research aimed at academic libraries and individual researchers.^[9]

Notable authors and works

• Alexander McCall Smith^[10]
  • Love in the Time of Bertie (2021)
  • The People's City (2022)
• Martin C. Strong^[11]
  • The Great Folk Discography, Vol. 1: Pioneers & Early Legends (2010)
  • The Great Folk Discography, Vol. 2: The Next Generation (2011)
• Andy Wightman
  • The Poor Had No Lawyers (Third Edition, 2015)^[12]

External links

• Birlinn

Notes and References

1. Web site: Catalogues :: Birlinn Ltd.. 2017-12-04.
2. http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/events/reports/2003-2004/publishing.pdf Royalsoced.org.uk
3. News: Birlinn marks 25 years of producing 'seminal' books about Scotland . Rosemary . Goring . . 28 July 2017 . 11 October 2020.
4. http://www.clansinclairusa.org/articles/march2001/thebirlinngalley.php The Birlinn or Heraldic Galley
5. http://www.writewords.org.uk/directory/detail_page.asp?subtypeid=192&directory_id=4660 Polygon Publishers
6. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Mercat Mercat - definition of Mercat by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia
7. Web site: John Donald Birlinn Ltd. 1 February 2026. Birlinn Ltd. live.
8. Web site: Birlinn Ltd - Independent Scottish Publisher - buy books online. Birlinn Ltd. 2026-02-01. en-GB.
9. Web site: Scotland's History Online. 1 February 2026. live.
10. Web site: Alexander McCall Smith - You have to know the places you're writing about . The Bookseller . 14 December 2021.
11. http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/bibliog_strong.shtml Folklib.net
12. Combe, M. M. (2011). Review of Andy Wightman, 'The Poor had no Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland (and how they got it)'. Environmental Law Review, 13(3), 242-243. https://doi.org/10.1350/enlr.2011.13.3.131