Acquisitions (147): Sir Walter Scott

Carola Oman: The Wizard of the North (1973)

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Carola Oman (1897-1978)


Carola Oman. The Wizard of the North (1973)
[Hospice Shop, Birkenhead - 29/1/2025].

Carola Oman. The Wizard of the North: The Life of Sir Walter Scott. London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1973.

Edgar Johnson: The Great Unkown (1970)

The Great Unknown

A few years ago I wrote a blogpost about the various competing lives of Charles Dickens, and the increasing difficulty of asserting anything for certain about the subject of such multiple texts.

The same is no doubt true of anyone who's had as great an influence on the world as Dickens - the more celebrated you are, the more facts (and myths) end up on record.

It's certainly the case with Sir Walter Scott. And, lo and behold, the same industrious researcher who wrote the massive double-volumed Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph (1952), Edgar Johnson, went on to produce a similarly vast life of Scott, The Great Unknown.

Edgar Johnson: The Great Unkown (1970)

It's a bit difficult to guess why Carola Oman - probably most celebrated for her 1946 biography of Nelson, though she was also a very industrious historical novelist - was so eager to set up a rival to Johnson's massive tome. Her Wizard of the North appeared a mere three years after his, and is considerably slimmer.

I suppose that was the point she wanted to make. She describes "Pofessor Edgard Johnson's weighty two-volume" biography as "not for the timid beginner", along with a little sneer about its being "from America."

John Buchan: Sir Walter Scott (1932)

Oman proceeds to lump it in with John Buchan's earlier life in perpetuating what she sees as a cardinal error:

Both these leading Scott biographers included, I think mistakenly, careful descriptions and criticism of the novels and poems. These should ideally form a separate publication. I hope I am right in that I have not attempted to impose the novels on a generation with whom they are not yet popular.

"Not yet popular" seems an odd phrase to use of a series of works which revolutionised English (and European) literature when they first began to appear in 1814. Nor is it immediately obvious why the inventor of the historical novel as we understand it today, a poet who was (in his time) rated alongside Byron and Wordsworth, should not be discussed in that connection.

Still, one must stand out from the throng, and it's certainly true that you can compose a writer's biography without considering their works in any detail. Edgar Johnson himself abridged his life of Dickens into a single volume by the simple expedient of leaving out all of the chapters devoted to his novels and other writings.

Whether it's a good idea or not depends a lot on what else your particular subject got up to the rest of the time, I suppose. In the case of both Dickens and Scott, that was (admittedly) an awful lot.

NY Times: Edgar Johnson (1902-1995)

Of course the truth of the matter is that all of these biographers had to operate in the shadow of the massive, multi-volumed compilation which is Scott's son-in-law John Gibson Lockhart's Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott.

John Gibson Lockhart: Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott (1837-38)

I've never read it through, so I'm not really qualified to judge, but Lockhart's work has received rather mixed reviews from posterity. Lytton Strachey once acidly observed that Boswell would cross London to verify a single fact, whereas Lockhart wouldn't even cross the room.

Francis Grant: John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)

There certainly seems to have been little love lost between the two. Scott had a talent for getting on people's nerves, and he could be a harsh task master. There's a rather revealing story about his relations with Henry Weber, an indigent young scholar whom Scott employed as an amanuensis and general workhorse from 1804 to 1813.

In December 1813, Weber experienced a severe mental breakdown while working alongside Scott. During this episode, he produced a pair of pistols and challenged Scott to a duel. Following a tense exchange, Weber joined the Scott family for dinner, but was placed under restraint the following day. He was later committed to an asylum in York, where he was financially supported by his friends, with some assistance from Scott. Weber remained in the asylum as "a hopeless lunatic" until his death in June 1818.

An unfortunate accident, you might think, until you took a look at this (partial) list of works Weber edited with - and for - his employer Scott:

1. The Battle of Flodden Field: A Poem of the Sixteenth Century, with Various Readings, Notes, etc. (1808)
2. Metrical Romances of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries, with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. 3 vols (1810)
3. Dramatic Works of John Ford, with Introduction and Explanatory Notes. 2 vols (1811)
4. Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, with Introduction and Explanatory Notes. 14 vols (1812)
5. Tales of the East; Comprising the Most Popular Romances of Oriental Origin and the Best Imitations by European Authors. 3 vols (1812)
6. Popular Romances, Consisting of Imaginary Voyages and Travels (1812)
7. Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland, by Sir Robert Gordon (1813)
8. [with Dr. Jamieson and Sir Walter Scott] Illustrations of Northern Antiquities from the Earlier Teutonic and Scandinavian Romances (1814)

Henry Weber, ed.: Tales from the East (1812)

The only one of these works I'm really acquainted with is Tales from the East, a most impressive compilation of materials from various Eastern traditions. It's truly a monumental work, and yet it's just one of the multitudinous projects Weber managed to complete over this period.

Not that Scott was one to spare himself when it came to literary work. He famously decided to pay back his creditors in full after the failure of the Ballantyne printing business in 1825:

Rather than declare himself bankrupt or accept any financial support from his many supporters and admirers (including the King himself), he placed his house and income in a trust belonging to his creditors and set out to write his way out of debt.

Amazingly enough, he nearly succeeded in this Herculean task, but his health failed before he could complete it:

Although Scott died owing money, his novels continued to sell, and the debts encumbering his estate were discharged shortly after his death.

The Journal he kept over this period - unpublished until 1890 - makes extremely poignant reading. His family pride and mania for acquiring new lands around his house Abbotsford had left him helpless when the British banking system crashed in the mid-1820s.

Walter Scott's Tomb in Dryburgh Abbey (1832)

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The Conversation: Professor Alison Lumsden (1964- )

Alison Lumsden is a graduate of the Universities of Aberdeen (MA Hons) and Edinburgh (PhD). She worked for Aberdeen University as AHRB research fellow for the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels before taking up her appointment as lecturer. She was appointed to senior lecturer in 2006 and to a chair in 2012. She is now a General Editor of the Edinburgh Edition and the lead editor for an edition of Walter Scott's poetry ...

She is ... co-editor of Scott's The Pirate (2001), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (2004), Reliquiae Trotcosienses (2004), Woodstock (2009) and editor of Peveril of the Peak (2007) for the Edinburgh Edition. In 2010 she published a monograph entitled Walter Scott and the Limits of Language...

Alison Lumsden's main research project is a scholarly edition of Walter Scott's poetry, to be published in ten volumes over the next twelve years.

Ali Lum, as we used to call her, was a fellow Doctoral student with me at Edinburgh in the late 1980s. I guess her formidable intellect was already on display, but for the most part she just seemed a very companionable and friendly colleague. It's great to see that she's done so well since then. I was a bit worried when she told me in the mid-90s that she was working on the massive new edition of the Waverley novels, but it appears that - far from being swallowed up by it - she ended up taking it over. Go Ali!

The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels (30 vols, 1993-2012)

1. Kenilworth. Ed. J. H. Alexander (August 1993)
2. The Tale of Old Mortality. Ed. Douglas S. Mack (August 1993)
3. The Black Dwarf. Ed. Peter Garside (August 1993)
4. Saint Ronan's Well. Ed. Mark Weinstein (July 1995)
5. The Antiquary. Ed. David Hewitt (July 1995)
6. A Legend of the Wars of Montrose. Ed. J. H. Alexander (January 1996)
7. The Bride of Lammermoor. Ed. J. H. Alexander (January 1996)
8. Redgauntlet. Ed. G A M Wood & David Hewitt (March 1997)
9. Ivanhoe. Ed. Graham Tulloch (December 1997)
10. Guy Mannering. Ed. Peter Garside (April 1999)
11. The Fair Maid of Perth. Ed. Andrew Hook & D. MacKenzie (October 1999)
12. Anne of Geierstein. Ed. J. H. Alexander (March 2000)
13. The Abbot. Ed. Penny Fielding (March 2000)
14. Chronicles of the Canongate. Ed. Claire Lamont (January 2001)
    1. The Surgeon's Daughter
    2. The Highland Widow
    3. The Two Drovers
15. The Monastery. Ed. Penny Fielding (January 2001)
16. Quentin Durward. Ed. J. H. Alexander & G A M Wood (April 2001)
17. The Pirate. Ed. Mark Weinstein & Alison Lumsden (April 2001)
18. The Heart of Mid-Lothian. Ed. Alison Lumsden & David Hewitt (March 2004)
19. The Fortunes Of Nigel. Ed. Frank Jordan (September 2004)
20. Count Robert of Paris. Ed. J. H. Alexander (November 2006)
21. Castle Dangerous. Ed. J. H. Alexander (November 2006)
22. Waverley. Ed. Peter Garside (November 2007)
23. Peveril of the Peak. Ed. Alison Lumsden (November 2007)
24. Rob Roy. Ed. David Hewitt (May 2008)
25. The Shorter Fiction. Ed. Graham Tulloch & Judy King (April 2009)
    1. The Inferno of Altisidora
    2. Christopher Corduroy
    3. Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals
    4. Phantasmagoria
    5. My Aunt Margaret's Mirror
    6. The Tapestried Chamber
    7. Death of the Laird's Jock
    8. A Highland Anecdote
26. Woodstock. Ed. Tony Inglis, J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, & Alison Lumsden (August 2009)
27. The Betrothed. Ed. J. B. Ellis, J. H. Alexander, & David Hewitt (November 2009)
28. The Talisman. Ed. J. B. Ellis, J. H. Alexander, Peter Garside, & David Hewitt (November 2009)
29. Introductions and Notes from the Magnum Opus: Waverley to a Legend of the Wars of Montrose. Ed. J. H. Alexander (October 2012)
30. Introductions and Notes from the Magnum Opus: Ivanhoe to Castle Dangerous. Ed. J. H. Alexander (October 2012)

Sir Walter Scott: The Siege of Malta / Bizarro (2008)

1. The Siege of Malta and Bizarro. Ed. J. H. Alexander, Judy King, & Graham Tulloch (June 2008)

Alison Lumsden, series editor: The Edinburgh Edition of Walter Scott's Poetry (c.10 vols, 2018- )

1. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. Ed. Ainsley McIntosh (June 2018)
2. Shorter Poems. Ed. Peter Garside & Gillian Hughes (December 2020)
3. Poetry from the Waverley Novels and Other Works. Ed. David Hewitt (May 2024)

Abbotsford

Amongst many other distinctions, I note that Alison Lumsden is also responsible for deciphering the almost illegible Reliquiae Trotcosienses, Scott's account of his own collection of books and antiquities, many of which are still housed at Abbotsford.

I have to say that my own impression of Abbotsford, when I visited it on a group tour back in the 1980s, was of the minuscule size of everything. I'd seen many impressive pictures of his library, with its upper galleries of shelves. But although Scott himself was quite a tall man, his attempts to beef up his very average sized home into a genuine Baronial castle could not disguise the fact that it wasn't really very big at all.

John Prebble: The King's Jaunt (1988)

Again, having read Edgar Johnson's accounts of the endless land acquisitions by which he tried to turn it into a genuine "estate", there was something poignant about the imposture behind it all. He was clearly a fantasist on many levels: a fact underlined by John Prebble's very amusing account of Scott's careful orchestration of King George IV's infamous "jaunt" in 1822: including the creation of a vast kilt designed to encase the royal body.

Yet this underlying absurdity is one of the reasons why Scott remains an endearing character after all these years - even despite his sentimental, kneejerk Toryism. His work is laced with humorous self-deprecation, and his dreams of glory always had an ironic tinge. He is, in short, long overdue for a revival. Let's hope that the tireless efforts of Professor Alison Lumsden (along with her numerous Scotticist colleagues) go some way towards accomplishing that.

Auguste Edouart: Sir Walter Scott (1830)

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Walter Scott (1801)

Sir Walter Scott, Bart
(1771-1832)

Books I own are marked in bold:

Sir Walter Scott: The Waverley Novels (1814-1832 / 1868)


Novels:


1. Waverley (1814)
   • Waverley: or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 1. 1892. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
2. Guy Mannering (1815)
   • Guy Mannering; or, the Astrologer. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 2. 1892. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
3. The Antiquary (1816)
   • The Antiquary. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 3. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
4. The Black Dwarf (1816)
   • Included in: The Black Dwarf, and A Legend of Montrose. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 5. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
5. Old Mortality. Tales of My Landlord, 1 (1816)
   • Old Mortality. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 6. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
6. Rob Roy (1817)
   • Rob Roy. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 4. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
7. The Heart of Mid-Lothian. Tales of My Landlord, 2 (1818)
   • The Heart of Midlothian. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 7. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
8. The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)
   • The Bride of Lammermoor. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 8. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
9. A Legend of Montrose. Tales of My Landlord, 3 (1819)
   • Included in: The Black Dwarf, and A Legend of Montrose. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 5. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
10. Ivanhoe (1819-20)
    • Ivanhoe: A Romance. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 9. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
11. The Monastery (1820)
    • The Monastery. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 10. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
12. The Abbot (1820)
    • The Abbot: A Sequel. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 11. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
13. Kenilworth (1821)
    • Kenilworth. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 12. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
14. The Pirate (1822)
    • The Pirate. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 13. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
15. The Fortunes of Nigel (1822)
    • The Fortunes of Nigel. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 14. 1893. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
16. Peveril of the Peak (1822)
    • Peveril of the Peak. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 15. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
17. Quentin Durward (1823)
    • Quentin Durward. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 16. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
18. St. Ronan's Well (1824)
    • St. Ronan’s Well. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 17. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
19. Redgauntlet (1824)
    • Redgauntlet. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 18. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
20. The Betrothed (1825)
    • The Betrothed, and The Highland Widow. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 19. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
21. The Talisman. Tales of the Crusaders (1825)
    • The Talisman: A Tale of the Crusaders. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 20. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
22. Woodstock (1826)
    • Woodstock: or, The Cavalier. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 21. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
23. The Surgeon's Daughter, with "The Highland Widow" and "The Two Drovers". Chronicles of the Canongate, 1 (1827)
    • Included in: The Surgeon’s Daughter, and Castle Dangerous. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 25. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
24. The Fair Maid of Perth. Chronicles of the Canongate, 2 (1828)
    • The Fair Maid of Perth; or, St. Valentine’s Day. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 22. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
25. Anne of Geierstein (1829)
    • Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 23. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
26. Count Robert of Paris (1832)
    • Count Robert of Paris. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 24. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
27. Castle Dangerous. Tales of My Landlord, 4 (1832)
    • Included in: The Surgeon’s Daughter, and Castle Dangerous. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 25. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
28. The Siege of Malta (1831-32 / 2008)
29. Bizarro [unfinished] (1832 / 2008)



The Keepsake (Christmas, 1827-1857)


Short stories:


30. The Inferno of Altisidora [The Edinburgh Annual Register] (1811)
31. Christopher Corduroy [The Sale-Room] (1817)
32. Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals [Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine] (1817)
33. Phantasmagoria [Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine] (1818)
34. The Highland Widow [Chronicles of the Canongate] (1827)
    • Included in: The Betrothed, and The Highland Widow. The Waverley Novels: Dryburgh Edition, Vol. 19. 1894. London & Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
35. The Two Drovers [Chronicles of the Canongate] (1827)
36. My Aunt Margaret's Mirror [The Keepsake] (1828)
37. The Tapestried Chamber [The Keepsake] (1829)
38. Death of the Laird's Jock [The Keepsake] (1831)
39. A Highland Anecdote [The Keepsake] (1832)



Sir Walter Scott: Ballads and Lyrical Pieces (1806)


Poetry:


40. Two Ballads: The Chase, & William and Helen. Trans. from the German of Gottfried Augustus Bürger (1796)
41. Glenfinlas (1800)
42. The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
    • The Lay of the Last Minstrel. 1805. Ed. W. Minto. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886.
43. Ballads and Lyrical Pieces (1806)
44. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field (1808)
45. The Lady of the Lake (1810)
46. The Vision of Don Roderick (1811)
47. The Bridal of Triermain (1813)
48. Rokeby (1813)
49. The Field of Waterloo (1815)
50. The Lord of the Isles (1815)
51. Harold the Dauntless (1817)
52. Bonnie Dundee (1825)
53. The Poetical Works. Oxford Edition (1886)
    • The Poetical Works. Ed. J. Logie Robertson. Oxford Complete Edition. London: Henry Frowde, 1886.
54. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Ed. Andrew Lang (1897)
    • The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Ed. Andrew Lang. 2 vols. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1897.



Sir Walter Scott: Poems & Plays (1911)


Plays:


55. Goetz of Berlichingen, with the Iron Hand: A Tragedy. Trans. from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1799)
56. Halidon Hill (1822)
57. MacDuff's Cross (1823)
58. The Doom of Devorgoil (1830)
59. Auchindrane (1830)



Sir Walter Scott: Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830)


Non-fiction:


60. [with Luke Clennell & John Greig] The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland. 2 vols (1814-17)
61. Essays on Chivalry, Romance, and Drama. Encyclopædia Britannica (1815-24)
62. Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk (1816)
63. Provincial Antiquities of Scotland (1819-26)
64. Lives of the Novelists (1821-24)
65. The Letters of Malachi Malagrowther (1826)
66. The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French. With a Preliminary View of the French Revolution. 9 vols (1827)
67. Religious Discourses. By a Layman (1828)
68. Tales of a Grandfather; Being Stories Taken from Scottish History, 1 (1828)
69. Tales of a Grandfather; Being Stories Taken from Scottish History, 2 (1829)
70. Tales of a Grandfather; Being Stories Taken from Scottish History, 3 (1830)
    • Tales of a Grandfather: Being the History of Scotland from the Earliest Times, Addressed to his Grandson, Hugh Littlejohn (John Hugh Lockhart). Series 1-3. 1828-30. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1880.
71. The History of Scotland: Volume I (1829)
72. The History of Scotland: Volume II (1830)
73. Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830)
    • Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. 1830. Introduction by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart. Myth, Legend and Folklore Series. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, in Association with The Folklore Society, 2001.
74. Tales of a Grandfather; Being Stories Taken from the History of France, 4 (1831)
75. Tales of a Grandfather: The History of France (Second Series) [unfinished] (1831 / 1996)



Sir Walter Scott, ed.: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802)


Edited:


76. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-03)
    • Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads. 1802-3. Ed. Alex. Murray. London: Alex. Murray & Son, 1869.
77. The Works of John Dryden. 18 vols (1808)
78. The Works of Jonathan Swift. 19 vols (1814)
79. Sir Tristrem [attrib. Thomas of Erceldoun] (1804)
80. Somers' Tracts. 13 vols (1809–1815)
81. Memorie of the Somervilles (1815)
82. The Poetical Works of Anna Seward (1810)
83. Anthony Hamilton: Memoirs of Count Grammont (1811)



Sir Walter Scott: The Journal (1890)


Journals & Letters:


84. The Journal of Sir Walter Scott (1825-32 / 1890)
    • The Journal, 1825-32: From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford. Ed. David Douglas. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1891.
85. The Letters of Sir Walter Scott. Ed. H. J. C. Grierson. 12 vols (1932-37)



John Gibson Lockart: Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott (1837)


Secondary:


86. Lockhart, J. G. The Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., 1771-1832. 1836. Complete Edition. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1896.
87. Lockhart, J. G. Narrative of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Begun by Himself and Continued by J. G. Lockhart. 1848. Everyman’s Library. 1906. London & New York: J. M. Dent & E. P. Dutton, 1909.
88. Johnson, Edgar. Sir Walter Scott: The Great Unknown. Volume 1: 1771-1821. London. Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1970.
89. Johnson, Edgar. Sir Walter Scott: The Great Unknown. Volume 2: 1821-1832. London. Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1970.
90. Oman, Carola. The Wizard of the North: The Life of Sir Walter Scott. London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1973.
91. Prebble, John. The King’s Jaunt: George IV in Scotland, August 1822. 1988. London: Fontana / Collins, 1989.

George Meikle Kemp: The Scott Monument (1840-48)

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• category - Scottish Literature: Authors

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