SULA: THE SEABIRD HUNTERS OF LEWIS. By John Beatty.

1992 1st edition. 8vo (170 x 236mm). Pp143. B/w photographs, plus 8 pages of colour photographs.

"Once a year, in the utmost secrecy, ten chosen men from the Isle of Lewis spend two weeks on a remote rock in the Atlantic where they harvest 2000 gannets as part of a legacy that has existed for over four centuries. John Beatty, the highly-acclaimed landscape photographer, is one of the very few outsiders in living memory to have been allowed on the island of Sula Sgeir to witness the catching, plucking and salting of the birds prior to their being shipped back to Lewis. He lived with the men, sleeping inside a century-old beehive dwelling, eating food cooked on peat fires, and listening to daily readings from the Gaelic Bible. This is an extraordinary story, rooted in age-old tradition and infused with hardship, mystery and ritual." Chapters include: Introduction by Brian Jackson; The key; Steer North by East, a Quarter East; A blessed hill; We catch the guga; Sunlight and sabbath; Down on the rocks; Walking the yardarm; Fire to the foundry; Departure; Released but not forgotten.