Winter Evening Tales (1820; second edition 1821) was James Hogg’s most successful work of prose fiction in his lifetime. This book presents a reprint of this key work, an example of the national genre pioneered by Hogg - the miscellaneous collection of popular and traditional narratives, novellas, tales, poems and sketches posed a lively alternative to the dominant form of the historical novel established by Walter Scott. The collection includes terse pieces of mystery and the uncanny, virtuoso improvizations on folktale themes, and two autobiographical novellas, The Renowned Adventures of Basil Lee and Love Adventures of Mr George Cochrane .