Exhibition: Walter Scott '“ Rave Reviewer

‘Rave Reviewer: Scott on Frankenstein, Emma and Childe Harold’ will tell the fascinating story of Walter Scott’s engagement and interaction with some of the most famous literature of the early 19th century: the works of Mary Shelley, Jane Austen and Lord Byron.

Walter Scott achieved this through penning some of the most insightful, sympathetic and outstanding literary reviews of the age – an age in which reviews on all manner of subjects were often more widely read than the original publications.

Walter Scott was central to the setting up and popularity of John Murray’s Quarterly Review and would remain a key contributor throughout his years as the most famous and prolific novelist of the time.

With novelists and reviewers often writing anonymously, the story behind the exhibition is one where appearances can be deceiving.

Few were as capable at playing this elaborate game as Scott – he even anonymously reviewed his own novels in 1816.

This was, without doubt, the harshest review these works received.

As well as a selection of letters and manuscripts, visitors will be able to see a very rare first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein belonging to Walter Scott, one of only 500 copies originally circulated, along with his first edition of Jane Austen’s Emma.

Many of these items are going on public show for the first time.

The exhibition will be on display in the author’s historic home from Saturday, April 2.

It runs until the end of the season in November 2016.

The entry fee is included as part of admission to the house.