MacDiarmid's study of individual eccentrics focuses on ten characters from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It culminates in an epilogue on the "strange procession" of those whose qualities display the unpredictable energies and extremes associated with "The Caladonian Antisyzygy".

MacDiarmid's study of the eccentric, impulsive Scottish genius is of his most important prose works, and takes its place as Volume IV of the MacDiarmid 2000 edition launched in 1992 to celebrate the centenary of his birth. Written mostly in exile in the Shetland Isles, MacDiarmid's study of individual eccentrics became a study of individualism, eccentricity and national indentity. The book focuses on ten characters from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries but shorter sketches of other individuals are also included. lt culminates in an epilogue on the "Strange Procession" of men and women whose characteristic qualities display the unpredictable energies and extremes of human behaviour associated with "The Caledonian Antisyzygy" - the close association of gargoyle and saint. First published in 1936, "Scottish Eccentrics" was reprinted in 1972 in a limited edition which quickly went out of print. This new edition includes the introductory note by Norman MacCaig from the 1972 edition and a new afterword by Alan Riach, setting the work in its context.