John Macrone who wrote this life of Scott in 1832 3 was admirably suited to the task for while he had never met Scott his friends and associates included Cunningham Galt and Hogg who wrote his Anecdotes of Scott for publication in Macrone s book A quarrel with Lockhart however put a stop to the project and nothing more was heard of it until the recent discovery of an autograph manuscript here edited and published for the first time A well written and carefully researched narrative it increases our knowledge of Scott s life and work as perceived by his contemporaries as well as enabling us to read Hogg s Anecdotes in their original context The editor s introduction draws extensively on uncollected and unpublished material to illuminate Macrone s career in the course of which he became the friend and publisher of Dickens Thackeray and Moore Key FeaturesThe first publication of a manuscript which was believed to be lostProvides a hitherto unknown contemporary perspective on Sir Walter Scott s life and workIncludes an introduction by the editor and a specially commissioned essay by Gillian Hughes giving a detailed account of Macrone s career based largely on uncollected or unpublished materialEstablishes a new context for James Hogg s Anecdotes of Scott