An unusual social media experiment could secure a new, younger audience for the literary classic which transformed Perth into the Fair City.
The Fair Maid of Perth, Sir Walter Scott’s weighty tome from 1828, will be republished for the first time in Tweet form.
Perth-based Tippermuir Books will use micro-blogging app Twitter to tell a re-edited version of the story, a tale of royal intrigue during the late 14th century Battle of the Clans in the city’s North Inch.
The Fair Maid of Perth (1828) Sir Walter Scott's wonderful historical novel will be published in tweet form (43 tweets) starting this Friday. #FMPTweetEdition
— PerthBooks (@TippermuirBooks) July 18, 2018
Dr Paul Philippou, who co-founded the city centre publishing firm, said he hoped the Tweet edition would bring the book to a younger audience, as well as those who have shied away from Scott’s work, fearing it too old-fashioned.
It will also help commemorate the book’s 190th anniversary.
Dr Philippou intends to send out four tweets a day, starting on Friday.
He said: “A few years back, Matthew Mackie, one of the Tippermuir Books team, persuaded me to read The Fair Maid of Perth. I had been reluctant to before, because it is quite a big tome, written in the early 19th century, and I just felt it would be a tiresome read.
“Nonetheless, I persisted and found myself captivated by Scott’s mastery of historical fiction and his ability to weave together a romance set in Perthshire and well-known episodes of Scottish history.”
The Tippermuir team was inspired to put together a book — Scott’s Fair City — to celebrate and summarise the tale and make it more accessible to all.
They have also been talking to local historic reenactment groups and funding bodies about launching a Walter Scott Festival in Perth, with dramatic recreations of the Battle of the Clans on North Inch.
“It would be great if, with the publication of Scott’s Fair City and the Fair Maid of Perth Tweet Edition, that Perth and Kinross Council or another body might see merit in a Walter Scott Festival,” said Dr Philippou, who is an honorary research fellow in History at Dundee University.
“The trouble is, while most people know of the book, not everyone has read it,” he said.
“The Tweet edition comprises 43 tweets, covering Scott’s 37 chapters. It was too difficult to get it down to one tweet per chapter.
“It has required two further close reads of the book — three in all — and lots of editing.”
The first tweet reads: “On Valentine’s Eve begins our story of thirteenth century Scotland as told by Water Scott, the Fair Maid of Perth, published 15th May 1828.”
Followed by: “Perth with regal form of inch and steeple sits within the beauty of a county gabled by plain Lowland and rugged Highland. Here by Tay we begin.”
The experiment has been welcomed by historian and Fair Maid scholar Dr Nicola Cowmeadow, a history officer at Culture Perth and Kinross.
She said: “At Culture Perth and Kinross we’re all about innovative ways to shine a spotlight on the arts and culture in Perthshire. That’s why it’s wonderful to see Sir Walter Scott’s novel given a 21st century airing on Twitter.”
