Undiscovered Scotland

 

I should start this review by admitting to a degree of bias. I've always thought of Edinburgh as being the best city on the planet. There are a number of reasons for that. The topography is one of them: Edinburgh is a city built in three dimensions. Its remarkable depth of history is a second. The third reason for my love of Edinburgh is in part a consequence of that history: the sheer variety, beauty (often) and fascination of its buildings make the city an absolute joy to spend time in.

Why? For an answer to that question you need look no further than "The Pocket Guide to Edinburgh’s Best Buildings" by Robin Ward. This superbly produced and presented book provides, in one fairly readily portable package, a wonderful introduction to the best of Edinburgh's built heritage.

The publisher's description gives a helpful overview of what lies between the covers of the book: "As a world heritage site and one of the most visited cities in the world, Edinburgh boasts a huge range of buildings from all periods and in many different styles. In this book, architectural writer Robin Ward introduces 300 of the city’s most fascinating places, from imposing public buildings such as galleries, museums, banking halls, churches and theatres to pubs, domestic dwellings, monuments and industrial architecture. Conveniently grouped by location, all areas of the city are covered, including suburbs. All are accessible by walking, cycling, public transport or car."

In a book of this sort, selection is everything, and to my mind, the author has done a wonderful job in deciding what to include. Many of the entries must have selected themselves, like Holyrood Abbey, St Giles' High Kirk and the National Monument of Scotland. Others are less obvious but equally worthy, like the Southern Motors Filling Station, Edinburgh Airport's control tower and Fleshmarket Close. Every building or structure included has a small colour photograph taken in light that shows it off at its best; and there is a "best of the best" section following the book's introduction which has larger photographs of some of the city's architectural superstars.

This is an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to get to know Edinburgh better than they do. It's perfect for visitors or newcomers to the city, but there's also a great deal here of interest to those of us who think (possibly wrongly on the evidence of this book) that we already know Edinburgh very well.