Edinburgh's Christian Aid booksale gifted a unique miniature book written by leading historian when she was a child

Dr Rosalind Marshall, who is now 85, wrote the book when she was just 11 and also illustrated it. Entitled "The Secret of Campbell's Cove", the book measures just two and a half inches by three inches but contains 12 chapters, with headings, and is said to evoke the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion which was central to Dr Marshall's scholarly works years later.

Dr Marshall has donated her entire library to the booksale, which opens tomorrow, Saturday May 10, and runs Monday-Friday next week, at the New Town Church - formerly St Andrew's and St George's West - in George Street.

The book measures just two and a half inches by three inches | TSPL

But organisers have decided the miniature book is so special it should not be offered for sale and instead they plan to offer it to the National Library of Scotland.

Neil MacLeod, a Scottish books specialist who helps at the sale, came across the precious item when he was sorting the books from Dr Marshall's library. "What an extraordinary library it is - utterly magnificent," he said. "Rosalind Marshall is a specialist of early modern Scotland, but I was amazed at the extent of her library - she has huge amounts of material on gender through history and across Europe, a lot of international history, clan histories and lots of stuff about monarchy, the Stuarts and the Church of Scotland. It's a historian's dream.

"Sorting through donations, you're on the lookout for things that are personal which the donor might have inadvertently put in that should be returned to them, especially things that are handwritten.

"So when my eye fell on this, it was a child's writing, it had obviously had a long existence but it's still in very good condition, still very legible and so well set out and thought out with little drawings and everything and it shows just what an outstanding talent Rosalind Marshsall is.

The sale is making a welome return this year after a one-year pause | TSPL

"It's a very moving thing to read. There are many parents who would be very proud were their children to write such a thing. My children are around the same age as Rosalind would have been when she wrote it. It was a very moving thing to find - its so personal to the individual and yet spoke to a Scotland as well and I think that's what's lovely about it."

It was offered back to Dr Marshall, but she said she was happy for it to be kept. And Mr MacLeod said it would offer a remarkable insight for future generations.

"Years from now, people will study Rosalind Marshall and her understanding of how we viewed history in this period, looking back to early modern Scotland and the Reformation. And having that insight to a historian as a child will be very interesting for future historians."

The booksale, first held in 1973, is making a welcome return this year after a “one year pause” in 2024, blamed on a shortage of volunteers in the wake of the pandemic. Over the years it has raised more than £3 million to help some of the world’s poorest communities.

Mr MacLeod said: “The sale is a real cultural gem for Edinburgh and Scotland After the hit the pandemic had on the sale, this is hopefully a new lease of life for it.”

And the Rev Dr Conor Fegan, minister of the New Town Church, said: "The Christian Aid sale is more than a tradition, it is a way of resisting apathy. It is a collective act of generosity which pushes back against the narrative that says nothing can change. By raising money for people living in poverty and injustice around the world we are saying we may not be able to fix everything but we can still do somethng that will make a difference, even if only in a small way."

The sale opens at 10am on Saturday May 10, running until 4pm; there is no sale on Sunday; and it runs 10am-3.30pm each day from Monday May 12 until Friday May 16, except for Thursday when it is open 10am-7pm.