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Sir Walter Scott: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802 - 1803)

By Susan Oliver (University of Salford)

Indexing Data:

  • Domain: Literature.
  • Genre: Poem Collection.
  • Country: Scotland, Britain, Europe.

Life, Works and Times

Reader Actions

Walter Scott published his first major work, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: consisting of historical and romantic ballads, collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; with a few of modern date, founded upon local tradition, in January 1802. Printed in Kelso, near Edinburgh, by Scott’s friend James Ballantyne, published in the Strand, London, by Cadell and Davies, and sold both in London and Edinburgh and Scotland, the initial two volumes contained 52 assorted ballads classified as “Historical”, “Romantic” or as modern “Imitations”. The Minstrelsy was an immediate literary and commercial success. Following an encouraging review in the January 1803 number of the newly established Edinburgh Review (for w

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Published 13 April 2005

Citation: Oliver, Susan. "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border". The Literary Encyclopedia. 13 April 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3542, accessed 9 February 2010.]