From Abbotsford to Paris and Back: Sir Walter Scott’s Journey of 1815

This first fully comprehensive and independent study of Sir Walter Scott’s memorable journey to Flanders and Paris in 1815, shortly after the Battle of Waterloo, is based on an analysis of Scott’s travel book, Paul’s Letters to his Kinsfolk, a fascinating mirror of his genial personality and extraordinarily wide interests. Supplemented by his own letters and poems, as well as by the journals of his contemporaries, some previously unknown or only superficially treated, the narrative recreates both the scenes of war and peace evident in Europe after the battle and the brilliant circle of international personalities with whom Scott mixed in Paris. Scott’s journey, his first abroad, fell in the crucial period of his literary career when, having achieved celebrity as a poet, he turned to prose, creating Waverley (1814) and Guy Mannering (1815) shortly before leaving Abbotsford as leader in a party of four travellers. This account relates Scott’s journey to the Waverley Novels in respect of themes, characters, scenery, and history not only in the chapters set in Flanders and Paris but also in the final narrative of Scott’s return to Scotland via Normandy and across England by coach from London to Abbotsford. The cultural aspects of his journey are thereby fully integrated into the main body of the narrative in a blend of literature and history. The book is thoroughly documented and attractively illustrated. An extensive index provides quick access to the wealth of persons, places, and topics treated in the text, appendices, and notes and references. Of value to historians studying national and international affairs of the nineteenth century, the book will appeal equally to those with an interest in the literature and social culture of that period.