For those of you missing the mountains, we’re going on a virtual tour of the Cairngorms today guided by writer Nan Shepherd, and her wonderful book, The Living Mountain.

In 2016, Nan Shepherd was the first woman to appear on a Royal Bank of Scotland banknote, alongside a quote from her first novel, The Quarry Wood: ‘It’s a grand thing to get leave to live.’

Here at the National Library, we have all of Nan Shepherd’s published works in different editions, as well as original correspondence and notebooks, recording a long life.

Anna (Nan) Shepherd was born near Aberdeen in 1893 and lived there until her death, aged 88. She wrote four books between 1928-1933 - three novels and one book of poetry - then didn’t publish anything for another 43 years.

Nan Shepherd’s next and final book was The Living Mountain, written during the late 1940s, and inspired by endless days spent walking, either solo or with friends, in the Cairngorm Mountains near her home > https://maps.nls.uk/view/142842149 

This half-inch to the mile Bartholomew Map from 1934 would have been popular with walkers and climbers exploring the Cairngorms at the time > https://maps.nls.uk/view/74467006 

The manuscript of The Living Mountain was kept in a drawer for more than 30 years, until it was finally published in 1977 by Aberdeen University Press. It has enjoyed a revival in recent years and is now seen as a classic work of nature writing
@aberdeenuni

Nan Shepherd had a deep love and knowledge for this area of Scotland, saying ‘The thing to be known grows with the knowing.’ The Living Mountain celebrates the beauty and grandeur of the mountains and charts a personal relationship with nature > https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400179 

This @nlskelvinhall film shows young people enjoying hiking and climbing in the Cairngorms in the 1940s, at the time when Nan Shepherd was writing The Living Mountain > https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/4568 

The Cairngorms are part of a national park and home to some of our highest peaks: Ben Macdhui, Braeriach, Cairn Toul, Sgor an Lochain Uaine, and Cairn Gorm. These photographs of the Cairngorms are part of the MacKinnon Collection, and date from the 1870s to the 1880s.

‘... haste can do nothing with these hills. I knew when I had looked for a long time that I had hardly begun to see.’ - Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain.

Do you have any fond memories of a favourite walk, hill or Munro? We'd love to hear them.