000 02622cam a22003253u 4500
001 76756
003 UtSlPG
005 20260610134757.0
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aDA
_aQH
100 1 _aGunn, John,
_d-1939
245 1 4 _aThe Orkney book
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
500 _aRelease date is 2025-08-28
508 _aSteven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
520 _aThe Orkney book : Readings for young Orcadians by John Gunn is a regional educational anthology written in the early 20th century. Aimed at school readers, it blends local history, geography, natural history, and legend to root learning in the islands themselves, drawing on Orcadian experts and illustrated extracts. Its core focus is Orkney’s story from prehistory through the Norse earldom, alongside portraits of the landscape, wildlife, crafts, and lore that shape island identity. The opening of the collection sets a proud, homesick tone with a poem to the “Sons of the Isles,” then a preface stating its purpose: to begin knowledge at home, offer suggestive readings rather than exhaustive study, and acknowledge the many local contributors and patrons. A detailed contents map leads into brisk chapters on prehistoric Orkney—flint tools, chambered cairns like Maeshowe, brochs, and standing stones—followed by early glimpses in classical and church sources, Culdee traces in place-names, and the likelihood that Norse settlers met few inhabitants. It then explains the Viking world and the Sagas as key sources, and narrates the early earldom: Harald Fairhair’s reach west, Sigurd the Mighty and Torf-Einar, a violent “dark century,” Olaf Tryggvason’s forced conversion, and the battle of Clontarf. The section proceeds to Thorfinn the Mighty, the martyrdom of Earl Magnus at Egilsay, and Rognvald Kali’s vow to raise St. Magnus Cathedral as he moves to reclaim the isles, ending mid-plot with the clever beacon ruse. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _nOriginal publication data not identified
653 _aOrkney (Scotland) -- History
653 _aOrkney (Scotland) -- Description and travel
653 _aNatural history -- Scotland -- Orkney
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76756
999 _c117481
_d117481