The Book of Prefaces [Hardcover]

Described as "A Short History of Literate Thought in Words by Great Writers of Four Nations from the 7th to the 20th Century Edited & Glossed by Alasdair Gray Mainly", this impressive anthology grafts "together pieces cut from the corpus of ... mostly the dead whose copyrights have lapsed"! (The prefaces start with early masters such as Caedmon and Bede, work their way through Chaucer, Caxton, Leland et al to Marlowe, Shakespeare, Donne and their contemporaries, on to Dryden and Pope and up through the 18th and 19th Century greats). As with all Gray's work the book itself is a work of art: a visual artist of some merit, Gray sees the book object itself as an important site to work his wonders and this is one of his most ambitious books to date. Beautifully illustrated with distinctive typefaces and "footnoted" throughout in red (these annotations come from Gray and many of the foremost writers in Scotland) with "marginal glosses ... in small type about its book, author, language and events shaping these". After having prepared it for about the last 16 years, this monster 640-page collection of prefaces does not disappoint. It is a remarkable, adventurous journey through some of the most important marginalia of English Lit. and Gray, with his quirky, intelligent and incisive Scottish wit, makes for a wonderful guide. --Mark Thwaite

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to hail Alasdair Gray as one of Scotlands greatest living novelists."

'A house in Britain that does not have a copy of this book is a house bereft: it will afford you great wisdom in the afternoon and many an enlightened smile after dark' Daily Telegraph 'Superb... eloquent... there is no disputing the enormous knowledge, the sheer love of books that is gathered here' Scotland on Sunday 'He is our nearest contemporary equivalent to Blake, our sweetest-natured screwed-up visionary. Buy the book!' Evening Standard --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

"A house in Britain that does not have a copy of this book is a house bereft." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

While Alasdair Gray has chosen and edited all the prefaces and has written most of the commentary he has been assisted in this endeavour by some thirty authors who have also written commentaries. These include James Kelman, Janice Galloway, A.L. Kennedy, Bernard MacLaverty, Liz Lochhead, Roger Scruton and, indeed, Virginia Woolf. A copy of the "Book of Prefaces" should be found in every household and hotel bedroom. It is a unique work of literature, indeed a history of literature which will delight and amaze and inform both casual browsers and students. Its like has never been seen nor will it be seen again for at least another millennium.

Alasdair Gray has spent over sixteen years on this project although he has written a number of other books in the meantime not least, the Whitbread and Guardian prize-winning novel POOR THINGS and the story-collection, TEN TALES TALL AND TRUE.