The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
This edition handwritten and illustrated by Susie Leiper
with thepermission of Erlend Clouston, literary executor.
Bound by Gillian Stewart of Juju Books in six volumes, each 41 x 33 cm
Nan Shepherd walked the Cairngorms. Susie Leiper writes the Cairngorms. Susie has taken Nan’s classic account of The Living Mountain and written it entirely by hand. Few people today have the skill or tenacity to copy out a complete text, ‘walking’ the pages as it were, and bringing them to life. Susie senses a parallel between the meditative act of sustained writing and the steady rhythmical movement of walking.
A passion for mountains and a career as a calligrapher and painter lie behind Susie’s desire to create a magnum opus: her own edition of The Living Mountain. The unjustified columns of soft grey text are punctuated by palladium leaf paragraph breaks, the oil-painted illustrations offer both abstract images and playful renderings of salient words and phrases. The restrained design and palette of each spread reflect the brutal starkness of the Cairngorms.
The original manuscript is sensitively bound in six volumes by Gillian Stewart of Juju Books. The custom-made display case allows viewers to enjoy open pages, as well as the bindings, the six boxes and a selection of pieces showing the process of the whole project.
"Lengthy transcriptions are immersive ... The hand of Susie Leiper opens a path through the entirety of Nan Shepherd’s classic Cairngorms memoir The Living Mountain and it’s as if we paced the landscape right behind her. Binder Gillian Stewart articulates this exceptional work in six manageable stages."
Elizabeth James, Senior Librarian, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London