£95
SIGNED BY THE EDITOR AND HUGH MACDIARMID, pp. 10. Five foolscap sheets stapled to top corner as issued. Staple rusted, top edge a little creased, just a touch toned, elements of masthead sometime hand-coloured in silver. Signed by F.A.C. Boothby and Hugh MacDiarmid beneath their respective pieces.
A scarce Scottish Nationalist literary and political periodical, founded by 1320 Club secretary, self-proclaimed Witch Priest, domestic terrorist and would-be bank robber Major Frederick Alexander Colquhoun Boothby (1909-1979). Boothby and MacDiarmid were both members of the 1320 club, named after the date of the Battle of Bannockburn, and an attempt to build a basis for Scottish Independence outwith the SNP. Boothby went further than most, founding a paramilitary wing, 'The Army of The Provisional Government' and ending up in prison for conspiracy in 1975 following a bombing campaign and botched bank robbery. He edited Sgian Dubh between 1963 and 1975, and it was a mixture of political (this issue contains a report on Welsh nationalism) and literary (here we have a section of Blind Harry's Wallace in modern English) in English and Gaelic. This issue also has an appreciation of Sgian Dubh on its fifth birthday by Hugh MacDiarmid, who has signed his contribution, as Boothby has signed his editorial.
An ephemeral thing, issues are scarce. The NLS holds a nearly-complete run, with smaller collections at Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews and Dundee.
