The George MacDonald Collection

Influential and innovative novelist and poet George MacDonald was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.

A substantial and important collection of his writings, the majority in manuscript and many showing significant differences from the published version, was gifted to the Brander Library, Huntly.

Manuscript of "At the back of the North Wind" now available

Alas! how easily things go wrong!
A sigh too deep or a kiss too long,
And then comes a mist and a weeping rain,
And life is never the same again.

Phantastes (1858)

Additional material will be added to this section over the next few months so please keep revisiting these page to see what is new.

The original manuscript items from the collection will shortly be deposited at Aberdeenshire Heritage HQ, Mintlaw under the care of Aberdeenshire Heritage, where they may be consulted by appointment.

We welcome any feedback from users of the website, comments on the content, the layout, accuracy etc. Please send your comments to local.studies@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Manuscripts

Huntly

Huntly spent much of its long history under the name of Milton of Strathbogie. The name is thought to mean "valley of the bubbling stream".

The origins of Huntly probably date back to a settlement serving the original castle, the Peel of Strathbogie, a wood stockade upon an earth mound built in the 1180s.

The inhabitants of the area would then have been Gaelic-speaking Celts. The untamed countryside of birchwoods and bog was home to wild boar and wolves.

Learn more about Huntly.