David Elginbrod: Unabridged Translation, Standard Edition

The first ever translation (from Scots to English) of George MacDonald’s debut novel!

＂I would rather be what God chose to make me, than the most glorious creature that I could think of. For to have been thought about-born in God’s thoughts-and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, most precious thing in all thinking.＂ -Chapter XXXIV

Following the success of David Jack’s two-column ＂Scots-English＂ editions (which feature both languages side-by-side) this new ＂Standard Edition＂ remains unabridged, but with the dialogue translated and formatted more conventionally, from the former tongue to the latter. Only the easiest Scots words have been retained, removing the need to decipher while at the same time preserving something of the Scottish flavour which characterises this classic tale.

Five years after the release of his ＂faerie romance＂ Phantastes (1858), George MacDonald’s David Elginbrod (1863) marked his equally triumphant debut as a novelist. Hailed in its day as a work of genius, the story is remarkable both for its lovingly-drawn portrait of MacDonald’s own father (in the person of the title character) and its beautifully realistic depiction of Scottish family life. At the heart of the tale is the young tutor Hugh Sutherland, as he gains experience of romantic love, friendship and loss, and at last, through David’s spiritual mentorship which follows him through all his later adventures, the slow awakening of his soul into the light of its God-born inheritance.