Writer

Scotland’s most prolific writer and a founder of the historical novel. A lawyer who wrote fiction, his first novel, Waverley, enjoyed instant success, as did the series that followed. Scott had a high social profile and was the prime organiser of George V’s visit to Scotland in 1822. His spending on property and various collections, as well as a series of poor investment, left him £100,000 in debt, and his ultimately successful battle to write to pay off his debts ultimately broke his health.

Sir Walter Scott Buchan vividly and affectionately describes the writer whose novels and poems made him the most popular author of his day. Scott was born in 1771 to a powerful Border family. Buchan is qualified to write with sympathy about his Scottish upbringing, disappointment in love and decline into illness and bankruptcy. His feeling for Scott's novels brings them alive for us and provides a deeper understanding of such major works as Ivanhoe and Waverley.

The Journal of Sir Walter Scott (Canongate Classics S.) Recounting the last six years of his life, years tainted by ill health, bereavment and financial ruin, Scott provides a day to day account of his trials, tribulations and celebrity status. This edition comes complete with edited text and draws from contemporary material.