On Writing Peak Beyond Peak: Transcribing Isobel Wylie Hutchison’s Lost Essays
A collection of lost essays by one of Scotland’s most incredible yet forgotten women, Isobel Wylie Hutchison, has now been published in book form with a wonderful introduction and afterword by Hazel Buchan Cameron, the woman who spent eight years collecting and transcribing the work. This is a landmark moment in Scottish culture, history and women’s studies, and we believe your readership will be fascinated to learn more. We asked Hazel if she could tell us how the book came about.
If you get a chance to visit the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) offices in Perth, you will discover that the premises incorporate The Fair Maid’s House, named after the novel by Sir Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth.
This 15th Century building, which inspired Scott, was redeveloped and restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. It now houses the ‘Explorer’s Room’, a small and atmospheric room for reading and browsing many of the books and geographical magazines held on its shelves. The room connects to the Cuthbert Room where thousands of maps, many unique and historical are stored, but unlike the map room, the Explorer’s Room has comfortable chairs, soft lighting and an invitation to browse. There are remains of a prayer niche and fireplace from its earliest dates, adding to a notion of being transported elsewhere.
It was the perfect setting in 2014 for a discovery that would take me on a new journey and result in the book Peak Beyond Peak (Taproot Press, 2022).
Kenneth Maclean, one of the RSGS volunteers was working on papers from their archive as I entered the room. After the usual greetings, he pushed a red box file towards me, there was a yellow post-it note attached: ‘Unpublished?’ “I think you might be interested in this lady; I admire her and you might enjoy these pieces.” He said.
I was soon hooked and began researching the lady that not only wrote a multitude of uplifting and interesting stories about her solo walks across Scotland (in tweed suit, woollen bonnet and handbag) but also had walked across the Arctic and was probably the first non-native woman to enter Canada at Demarcation Point. She spoke several languages, was a botanist, an artist and wrote several books, plays and poetry collections. In her lifetime she gave over 500 lectures, from women’s groups to the Scott Polar Institute. Isobel Wylie Hutchison (1889–1982) had been known and recognised in her own lifetime, yet this remarkable lady had quickly vanished from public and establishment consciousness after her death at the age of 92.
The RSGS archives have many unsung heroes. However, there was something extraordinary about Isobel which resonated with me: Her independence, her love of myth and folklore, her trust in others and her resolute faith. She knew she was ‘on the right path’ and this shone brightly in her writing. I soon wanted to share the joy reading her work with others, so I began investigating how to have her stories published for a wider audience.
Of course, there were others who had discovered Isobel before me, and Canadian writer, Gwyneth Hoyle wrote a biography in 2001, Flowers in the Snow (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), yet still in Scotland, any mention of her name drew a blank look and a ‘Google search’ brought up only a handful of results.
Just one example of the mind-boggling job Hazel took on when she decided to transcribe these brilliant essays!
From that first discovery to publication of Peak Beyond Peak took eight years. During that time, I was also earning a living, moving house – three times – welcoming new grandchildren, dealing with elderly parents and going down blind alleys in connection with permission to publish and finding a publisher. However, Isobel was never far from my thoughts, as my family will attest to. Her name also began appearing more on social media.
After my six-month residency with the RSGS, Jo Woolf became their permanent Writer in Residence. She wrote and gave talks regularly about Isobel. Then Isobel’s old home, Carlowrie Castle, now a wedding venue, created an ‘Isobel Wylie Hutchison Collection’ to celebrate her legacy in the form of clothing and accessories. I found it amusing that her home should be a wedding venue when she herself had made a conscious decision never to marry after seeing how marriage had restricted her sister’s life.
There’s definitely been an awakening in Scotland about Isobel and I drew encouragement from that. More information became available on the internet and I discovered three of the ‘unpublished?’ stories had in fact been published in the National Geographic Magazine. Missing a few pages from one piece, I bought the relevant copy via eBay. However, both stories although similar had differences. I decided to combine them whilst trying to remain as close to Isobel’s intentions as possible.
Isobel Wylie Hutchison (1889–1982) was a Scottish solo explorer, botanist, writer, broadcaster and artist. Although she is better known for being a pioneer of Arctic exploration, she also walked and wrote extensively about Scotland and its islands.
My favourite piece to transcribe was hand-written, Gus Masik Comes to Scotland. It was also the most difficult. Many sections had been scored out and corrected, notes added and other sections were faint. I left gaps and ‘worked out’ these at later dates. I have always been interested in handwriting, coming from a generation where even job applications had to be made ‘in writing’. There is something of our personality transferred via our writing and I felt connected to Isobel this way.
I found the right publisher in 2021, Patrick Jamieson knew exactly who Isobel was and showed instant enthusiasm for the book.
There is still so much to discover. My 1956 copy of National Geographic contains a short bio:
“Isobel Wylie Hutchison has won fame as a botanist, novelist, and poet, but few people know that this much-traveled Scotswoman also holds the honorary rank of Admiral in the United States Coast Guard. The title “Admiral of the Bering Sea,” complete with a flag bearing crossed hairpins, was conferred by the crew of the cutter Chelan, on which she travelled during a botanical expedition to the Aleutians…”
I look forward to reading many more of her stories.
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Hazel Buchan Cameron is a Scottish writer and art administrator. Her publications encompass numerous articles, several poetry pamphlets, including The Currying Shop, which was joint winner of the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2008, a poetry collection Cutting Letters (Red Squirrel Press, 2018) and a memoir, Just Go In (Grace Notes Publications, 2015). Her latest work is a book of essays by Scottish writer, traveller and botanist, Isobel Wylie Hutchison (1889–1982), Peak Beyond Peak (Taproot Press, 2022).
Peak Beyond Peak: The Unpublished Scottish Journeys of Isobel Wylie Hutchison
While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel Wylie Hutchison’s journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O’ Groats and the various literary shrines across the country.
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Category: On Writing
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