Castles and Keeps of Scotland

On this my 100th Blipfoto I have chosen a precious old book in my possession published in 1907. It came from long-gone Devon Bank School, Pollokshields, Glasgow. I know this because this name is embossed on the back cover along with an emblem and a quote from Goethe.

"Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast" it reads in the minutest of lettering. I would probably never have noticed had I not decided to photograph the book today. A Google search revealed that this comes from a longer quote which translates - "Like a star, without haste, without rest, let every one fulfil his own hest." I take this to mean that we all have a purpose to fulfil and we should follow our own bidding.

I hope to make this beautiful old book my inspiration for future blips and get out to photograph Scotland's castles and keeps, and the people who look after them. Ownership has changed radically in the last hundred years with the National Trust for Scotland owning many now, and a staff of conservation experts and 3000 volunteers acting as guides. Historic Scotland owns others like Edinburgh Castle depicted on the cover. The lettering and castle are picked out in gold and I hope I have managed to capture this.

The Castles and Keeps of Scotland by Frank Roy Fraprie is illustrated with inspiring black and white and tinted photographs. Fraprie was an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the Photographic Society of America. For over half a century he was internationally known both as an editor and publisher of photographic books. He began to take photographs in 1886 and his first camera was a pinhole affair.