Anecdotes of Scott

James Hogg knew Sir Walter Scott well, and after Scott’s death in 1832 he wrote an affectionate but frank account of their long friendship. Hogg arranged for his manuscript to be sent to John Gibson Lockhart, Scott’s son-in-law and official biographer; but when Lockhart read the manuscript he declared himself to be filled with ‘utter disgust and loathing’ at the ‘beastly and abominable things’ he found it to contain. As a result, Hogg withdrew the manuscript from publication, but later arranged for the US publication of an extensively revised version, Familiar Anecdotes of Sir Walter Scott. Professor Rubenstein has produced a meticulous new edition which includes both the first version, Anecdotes of Sir W. Scott and the later version. She provides a wealth of new information about these lively, readable, idiosyncratic, and disconcerting texts.