By the close of the nineteenth century, the works of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) could be found on the bookshelves of every respectable Victorian. Public interest was such that, nearly sixty years after his death, there remained considerable demand for new insights into the man and his milieu. First published in 1890, his two-volume journal for the period 1825–32 immediately attracted press attention. One review observed that 'it shows us the man in prosperity and in adversity, now delightfully humorous … now saddened by the financial troubles which came upon his later years'. Notwithstanding his money worries, Scott's final decade was not without literary achievement. Volume 1 comprises entries from November 1825 to June 1827, soon after Scott had published Tales of the Crusaders (1825) and during which period he wrote his Letters of Malachi Malagrowther (1826).
