The Great Tapestry of Scotland: The Making of a Masterpiece

by Susan Mansfield, Alistair Moffat, Alexander McCall Smith (Foreword)

The Great Tapestry of Scotland tells the story of the making of a masterpiece depicting 420 million years of Scottish history and achievemnet. It involved a thousand stitchers from all over Scotland who worked on the 165 separate panels. The idea was the brainchild of Alexander McCall Smith who writes the foreword to the book.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Scotland, Art

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Susan Mansfield is a journalist and writer. She grew up in Aberdeenshire and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and the Graduate Centre for Journalism, City University, London. She has written about the Arts in Scotland for more than 20 years. In 2001, she joined the staff of The Scotsman and has written for the paper across the Arts, with a particular interest in art, literature and theatre. She now lives in the west of Scotland, and has been known to pick up an embroidery needle occasionally.

Her alternative Passion Play, On the Edge, was performed in Edinburgh at Easter 2015.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book of the collection of tapestries produced across the country. Waiting impatiently for it to be displayed in a place near enough for me to visit!

[Sophie (RedheadReading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning!

[Catherine Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful! this is the book that accompanies the exhibition ... marvellous

[Sue Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a stitcher I found this book very inspiring and beautifully presented. It also brought back fond memories of working on our own community project to make new kneelers for the local church, and the book we published recording our achievement in 2012.

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the good fortune of seeing this remarkable exhibition, when we happened into the Scottish Parliament in August 2014. The description provided in this text is wonderful. Seeing the tapestry in its entirety was a real treat.

[Adeptus Fringilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about the making of the tapestry. Contains lots of good photographs and information about the people who stitched the tapestry.

[Bodil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to read about the making of this splendid tapestry.