The Secret Commonwealth: Of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies

This book of Scottish folklore recounts tales of fairies, elves, and supernatural creatures. In the late 17th century, Robert Kirk, an Episcopalian minister in the Scottish Highlands, collected his parishioners’ stories about many mythical creatures, especially those that Kirk categorizes as having a “middle nature betwixt man and angel.” Kirk believed these stories provided evidence for a parallel supernatural world that was demanding exploration. This book is an essay in defense of this belief that he left in manuscript, before his death in 1692.

First published in 1815 by Sir Walter Scott, then reedited in 1893 by Andrew Lang, this book has long been difficult to obtain outside of scholarly vintage sources. This edition modernizes Kirk’s spelling and punctuation and features an introduction by the critic and historian Marina Warner, who highlights Kirk’s originality and reflects on the enduring fascination with fairies and the magical in the modern-day mind.