The Border Line, from the Solway Firth to the North Sea along the Marches of Scotland and England.

MACK, James Logan

Published by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1924

About this Item

First edition. One of 50 copies printed on rag paper, signed and numbered by the author. Large and think octavo (7 1/4 x 9 inches). xx, 316 pp. plus 116 full page photographic illustrations (in some cases there are to images to a sheet). Publisher's navy blue diaper cloth with gilt spine lettering, t.e.g. Bookplate to front pastedown, some sunning to spine and light wear to extremities but still an attractive copy.The Border Line between England and Scotland was, for centuries, a cause of great contention and confrontation between the clans and families who inhabited the lands to the north and south of it - the Border Reivers. Perhaps the words of Robert Louis Stephenson (nineteenth century author) sum up the difference. 'There is nothing more puzzling . than the great gulf that is set between England and Scotland. Here are two people almost identical in blood . the same in language and religion; and yet a few years of quarrelsome isolation . in comparison with the great historical cycles - have so separated their thoughts and ways, that not unions nor mutual dangers, nor steamers nor railways, nor king's horses and all the king's men seem to obliterate the distinction.' James Logan Mack was an Edinburgh lawyer. In 1924 he published a work on the Scottish English Border. It was entitled THE BORDER LINE FROM THE SOLWAY FIRTH TO THE NORTH SEA ALONG THE MARCHES OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. This work wasn't the result of many hours spent with his head in books reading all that he could glean about the formation of the Border between the two countries but rather through his determination to walk the whole of the 120 miles that constitute its length. As Logan Mack led a very busy life his sojourns into the Borderlands were restricted to visits only in his summer leisure time; it took a period of six years, 1918 to 1924, to trace and follow the Border Line. The first edition of the book sold out very quickly and was, with a few additions, republished and reprinted in 1926" (Border Reivers).

Seller Inventory # 75754

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Border Line, from the Solway Firth to the North Sea along the Marches of Scotland and England.
• Publisher: Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh
• Publication Date: 1924