author
David Pryde
1834–1907
A Scottish schoolmaster and man of letters, he wrote with a lively, approachable style that moved from literary guidance to local storytelling. His best-known work, The Queer Folk of Fife, captures the humor and character of his native region.
1 Audiobook
The Queer Folk of Fife: Tales from the Kingdom
by David Pryde
About the author
Born in 1834, David Pryde was a Scottish writer, educator, and literary worker whose career joined teaching with a deep interest in books and history. Sources connected with his later publications describe him as a former head master of the Edinburgh Ladies' College, and accounts of his life also link him with editorial work for the Encyclopaedia Britannica early in his career.
Pryde wrote across several kinds of nonfiction and literary commentary. His books include Pleasant Recollections of a Busy Life, The Highways of Literature; or, What to Read and How to Read, Biographical Outlines of English Literature, and Great Men of European History. He also wrote The Queer Folk of Fife, a collection of tales that has remained his most widely noticed title.
He died in 1907. What makes his work appealing now is its range: he could be practical and instructive when writing about reading, then warm and sharply observant when writing about people and place.