John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (1875–1940), was a Scottish novelist, historian, biographer and editor. Outside the field of literature he was, at various times, a barrister, a publisher, a lieutenant colonel in the Intelligence Corps, the Director of Information—reporting directly to prime minister David Lloyd George—during the First World War and a Unionist MP who served as Governor General of Canada, the fifteenth to hold the office since Canadian Confederation.

Born in Perth, Scotland, Buchan was admitted to the University of Glasgow in 1892 to study classics; during his first year at university he edited the works of Francis Bacon, which were published in 1894. The following year he was awarded a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford; shortly after his arrival he also published his first novel, Sir Quixote of the Moors, which he dedicated to Gilbert Murray, his university tutor. By the time he left the university he had published five books, including Scholar-Gipsies, his first work of non-fiction.

Much of Buchan's non-fiction mirrored his circumstances: his time in South Africa resulted in The African Colony, and the First World War led to a series of books about the war in general, and the Scottish and South African forces in particular. He interspersed his non-fiction with further novels, and also wrote ten biographies and four volumes of poetry, as well as numerous articles and stories for magazines and journals. During the war he wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps, the novel which has been adapted for film and television more than any of his other work, (film versions in 1935, 1959 and 1978 and a 2008 television version).

Editor

Buchan was the general editor of the Teaching of History series, published by T. Nelson Publishers between 1928 and 1930. In 1900 he was also a member of the editorial board of The Spectator.

+ Works edited by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication Author First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Notes Essays and Apothegms of Francis Lord Bacon Walter Scott Publishing Co Musa Piscatrix Various John Lane Methuen Publishing Various T. Nelson Publishers Miscellanies: Literary and Historical Hodder & Stoughton Great Hours in Sport Various T. Nelson Publishers –24 Various Hodder & Stoughton Six unnumbered volumes Various T. Nelson Publishers Abridged and published in 1937 as A Shorter History of English Literature. Various Hodder & Stoughton Modern Short Stories Various T. Nelson Publishers Essays and Studies Members of the English Association Oxford University Press, Oxford South Africa Various British Empire Educational Press Various T. Nelson Publishers Eleven volumes William Blackwood & Sons

Novels

+ Novels by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Sir Quixote of the Moors T. Fisher Unwin John Burnet of Barns John Lane John Lane Isbister. Serialised in Good Words, 1900 William Blackwood & Sons Prester John T. Nelson Publishers Salute to Adventurers T. Nelson Publishers William Blackwood & Sons William Blackwood & Sons Greenmantle Hodder & Stoughton Mr Standfast Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Huntingtower Hodder & Stoughton Midwinter Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton John Macnab Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Witch Wood Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Castle Gay Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Sick Heart River Hodder & Stoughton

Non-fiction

+ Non-fiction by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Scholar-Gipsies John Lane Robinson William Blackwood & Sons Stevens Some Eighteenth Century Byways William Blackwood & Sons Nine Brasenose Worthies Clarendon Press, Oxford What the Home Rule Bill Means T. Nelson Publishers Nelson's History of the War (24 volumes) –19 T. Nelson Publishers Britain's War by Land Oxford University Press, Oxford Methuen Publishing Ordeal by Marriage Clay Publishing Boyle, Sons & Watchurst T. Nelson Publishers J. M. Dent & Sons T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers These for Remembrance Privately printed, London The Island of Sheep Hodder & Stoughton Outram T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers Birkbeck College Days to Remember T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers Two Ordeals of Democracy Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass William Blackwood & Sons Homilies and Recreations T. Nelson Publishers Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Hodder & Stoughton Montrose and Leadership Oxford University Press, Oxford Andrew Lang and the Borders Oxford University Press, Oxford Peter Davies Gordon at Khartoum Peter Davies Hodder & Stoughton Naval Episodes Of The Great War T. Nelson Publishers Hodder & Stoughton Presbyterianism Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Church of Scotland, Edinburgh Memory Hold-the-Door Hodder & Stoughton Comments and Characters T. Nelson Publishers Canadian Occasions Hodder & Stoughton

Biographies

+ Biographies by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Sir Walter Raleigh Blackwell Publishing, Oxford T. Nelson Publishers Andrew Jameson, Lord Ardwall William Blackwood & Sons Francis and Riversdale Grenfell: A Memoir T. Nelson Publishers Lord Minto: A Memoir T. Nelson Publishers T. Nelson Publishers Montrose T. Nelson Publishers Sir Walter Scott Cassell Julius Caesar Peter Davies Oliver Cromwell Hodder & Stoughton Augustus Hodder & Stoughton

Poetry collections

+ Poetry collections by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Blackwell Publishing, Oxford Grey Weather: Moorland Tales of My Own People (includes short stories) John Lane W Blackwood & Sons Poems: Scots and English T.C. & E.C. Jack

Short story collections

+ Short story collections by Buchan Title Year of firstpublication First edition publisher(London, unless otherwise stated) Grey Weather: Moorland Tales of My Own People (includes poetry) John Lane W Blackwood & Sons W Blackwood & Sons Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton Donald M. Grant, Publisher, West Kingston, RI

Notes and references

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