Sir Gibbie (first published in 1879) is the charming story of a mute orphan, a baronet’s heir, who flees his city home upon witnessing a murder to find a new family in the country.
A favourite of C. S. Lewis’ and a book which he continued to recommend to his correspondents until the year before his death, the appeal of this Scottish classic consists largely in the spontaneous, irresistible goodness of its hero. It is also, as Lewis himself observed, a book which “departs from the canons of novel writing",” and that in the direction of fantasy. As such, it may serve as a bridge to the realistic works for those who know MacDonald chiefly, or exclusively, for fairy tales such as Phantastes, Lilith, and the two Curdie books.
“Finally! For decades people have been asking me where to turn if they want to read MacDonald’s original Scottish novels, yet struggle with the sections written in dialect. Thanks to this labour of evident love by David Jack, MacDonald ‘in the original’ is now accessible to all.” -Dr. Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, MacDonald scholar and co-editor of Informing the Inklings
Extensive Scots dialogue
“I admit the child [Gibbie] a rarity, but a rarity in the right direction, and therefore a being with whom humanity has the greater need to be made acquainted....There is more love in the world than anything else...but the best love and the individual in whom love is supreme are the rarest of all things.
”
Recommended Editions and Adaptations
Scots-English Edition: full original text, plus for all passages in the Scots tongue, the original Scots is shown with a side-by-side translation into English by David Jack
The Cullen Collection Edition (abridged): paperback and kindle
Hardcover Editions (unabridged):
From WisePath Books
From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
The 1963 edition of Sir Gibbie, edited by Elizabeth Yates
Reintroduced what had become an out-of-print book to the reading public. It is considerably shorter than the original and removes or rewrites much of the Scots dialogue. Michael Phillips notes that this edition was the primary model and inspiration for his own edited versions of many of MacDonald’s novels, which played a huge role in the MacDonald renaissance of the past several decades.
Young Reader’s Editions:
Wee Sir Gibbie of the Highlands, George MacDonald Classics for Young Readers, Bethany House Publishing, edited by Michael Phillips
Sir Gibbie, Classics for Young Readers Edition, P&R Publishing, edited by Kathryn Lindskoog
Articles about Sir Gibbie
WINGFOLD
Wingfold is a quarterly magazine that restores material by and about George MacDonald, in print since 1993. To subscribe, click here. To request any of the following articles that appear in back issues of Wingfold, contact Barbara Amell at b_amell@q.com.
Winter 2000
“1879 Review”
“1880 Review”
Spring 2001
“Introduction to Sir Gibbie by Greville MacDonald”
“On Deafness”
Summer 2008
“1879 Review”