The Silver Darlings
First Edition:
THE | SILVER DARLINGS | by | NEIL M. GUNN | [space] | FABER AND FABER LIMITED | 24 Russell Square | London
Collation:
[A] (16), B - I (16), No J, K - S (16), T (4), 292 leaves.
p. [1] THE SILVER DARLINGS | [ornament]; p. [2] By the same author; p. [3] Title page; p. [4] [ital] Publisher's and Printer's notices: First published in April MCMXLI; p. [5] TO | THE MEMORY OF | MY FATHER; p. [6] blank; p. [7] Contents; p. [8] blank; pp. 9 - 584 Text.
5 1/8" x 7 3/4". Bound in blue cloth, spine stamped in silver:
THE | SILVER | DARLINGS | [ornament] | NEIL | GUNN | [space] | FABER AND | FABER
Other Editions:
G.W. Stewart | New York | 1945
An extract entitled "Storm and Precipice", comprising part of p. 307, pp. 308 - 324 and part of p. 325 appeared in:
Storm and Precipice | Faber and Faber | London | 1st. October 1942 | pp. 53 - 70.
A short story called "Sea Colours", which is basically an extract from the last chapter, pp. 574 - 579, with some slight amendments appeared in:
The Scots Magazine | Dundee | December 1940 | pp. 219 - 223.
The first chapter was adapted from the short story "The Boat", which appeared in:
The Scots Magazine | Dundee | December 1937 | pp. 186 - 194.
An extract from chapter one, used as the subject for a reading on the B.B.C. school programme "Scottish Magazine" was printed in:
B.B.C. Radio: Scottish Magazine Teachers Notes | Spring - Summer 1978 | pp. 3 - 4.
An extract entitled "The Herring Fishers", appeared in: Scotland, An Anthology | Paul Harris, ed. | Cadogan Books | London | 1985 | pp. 83 - 86.
A film of the novel was made by Associated British Picture Corporation in 1947.
The novel was adapted for radio by John Wilson and was produced 3rd. September 1962 by Finlay J. MacDonald for the Scottish Home Service. A typescript of this adaptation is held at both the B.B.C. Glasgow and the B.B.C. script library (plays), London.
An article entitled "The Silver Fish" by Neil Gunn appeared in The Radio Times 30th. August 1962.
A further radio adaptation was made by Tom McGrath and was produced in five episodes of one hour each by Tom Kinninmont in June - July 1982.
An extract comprising part of p. 82 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 4.
An extract comprising part of p. 57 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 10.
An extract comprising part of p. 13 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 42.
An extract comprising part of p. 17 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 42.
An extract comprising part of p. 272 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 43.
An extract comprising part of p. 26 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 43.
An extract comprising part of p. 577 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 43.
An extract comprising part of p. 573 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 44.
An extract comprising part of p. 250 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 44.
This novel was adapted for the stage by John McGrath, and first performed at the Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow on the 17th. August 1994, by Wildcat Stage Productions Ltd.
Notes:
Neil Gunn's father, to whose memory the book is dedicated, was a fisherman.
According to Professor F.R.Hart in his "A Brief Memoir" (Neil M. Gunn: The Man and the Writer | A.Scott and D.Gifford, eds. | William Blackwood | Edinburgh | 1973) an old Dunbeath man had told Gunn of the first four men to go through the Pentland Firth to the West Coast fishing, which is incorporated into this book. He also states that other historical details were recorded in a ledger which Gunn found at Helmsdale.
This is certainly one of Gunn's more popular novels, and deservedly so. It is a novel of epic proportions dealing with the rise of the herring industry.