BooksfromScotland may be biased as it’s our home city, but Edinburgh really is a beautiful place. We love a meander round its streets, but, at the moment, we can’t venture out too much. Brilliantly, Shawna Law has put together an excellent book, Pockets of Pretty: An Instagrammer’s Edinburgh, that means we can enjoy the city’s gorgeous nooks and crannies from the comfort of the couch. Here, we share some of her beautiful pictures of Leith, and in particular, its collection of murals.

Extract taken from Pockets of Pretty: An Instagrammer’s Edinburgh
By Shawna Law
Published by Black and White Publishing

It’s only right that one of Edinburgh’s main artistic hubs is home to the largest collection of street art and murals in Edinburgh. It’s by no means as extensive as Glasgow’s or Aberdeen’s street art scene, but still Leith has murals dating back to the 1980s with an influx of newly painted walls from 2013, thanks to LeithLate’s mural project. As well as LeithLate’s mural map, I’ve come across a few unofficial murals dotted around the neighbourhood.

MURALS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR

Wronger Rites by Kirsty Whiten (2015)
Dalmeny Street

Untitled Mural by Elph (2016)
115 Leith Walk

The Leith Aquatic
by Blameless Collective (2013)
Halmyre Street

Leith Dockers Club by Tom Ewing (2013)
17 Academy Street

Untitled Mural by Artists’ Collective (1984)
Tolbooth Wynd

Eduardo Paolozzi
by Russell Dempster (2014)
77 Henderson Street

Leith History
by Tim Chalk & Paul Grime (1985)
Next to Leith Library on Ferry Road

København by Chris Rutterford (2018)
Custom Lane

A survivor of the Gretna rail disaster
by Guido Van Helten (2013)
Out of the Blue

Pockets of Pretty: An Instagrammer’s Edinburgh by Shawna Law is published by Black and White Publishing, priced £20.00