Robert Kirk

Robert Kirk (1644 – 1692) was a Scottish minister, Gaelic scholar and folklorist, best known for The Secret Commonwealth, a treatise on fairy folklore, witchcraft, ghosts, and second sight, a type of extrasensory perception described as a phenomenon by the people of the Scottish Highlands. Folklorist Stewart Sanderson and mythologist Marina Warner call Kirk's collection of supernatural tales one of the most important and significant works on the subject of fairies and second sight.

In the late 1680s, Kirk travelled to London to help publish one of the first translations of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic. Gentleman scientist Robert Boyle financed the publication of the Gaelic Bible and pursued inquiries into Kirk's reports of second sight. Kirk died before he was able to publish The Secret Commonwealth. Legends arose after Kirk's death saying he had been taken away to fairyland for revealing the secrets of the Good People.

Scottish author Walter Scott first published Kirk's work on fairie…more

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Books with Robert Kirk

	The Secret Commonwealth: An Essay of the Nature and Actions of the Subterranean (and, for the Most Part) Invisible People, Heretofore Going under the Name of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies by Robert Kirk 3.74 avg rating — 1,248 ratings — published 1815 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Robert Kirk: Walker Between the Worlds by R.J. Stewart 4.07 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 1990 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Scottish Literature: An Introduction by Alan Riach 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2022 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Occult Laboratory: Magic, Science and Second Sight in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland--The Secret Commonwealth and Other Texts by Michael Hunter 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2001 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Grass of Parnassus by Andrew Lang 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1889 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Enchantment of the Trossachs: The Life and Mysterious Death of Scottish Churchman and Scholar Robert Kirk and his influential Treatise on Fairy Folklore by Louis Stott 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2018 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Complete Scottish Sketches of R.B. Cunninghame Graham: 'A Careless Enchantment' by R.B. Cunninghame Graham 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2024 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ideology and Conspiracy: Aspects of Jacobitism, 1689 - 1759 by Eveline Cruickshanks (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1982 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shepherd Beguiled by Netta Blair Reid it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1986 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Treeheads Together: a modern day adventure in fairyland, Aberfoyle by Adrian Bain really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2012 add/edit characters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars