PBA Galleries

3 volumes in 1, v, 88, [2], 122, [3], 97 pp. (8vo) 18.7x11.5 cm (7½x4½"), contemporary brown half calf, marbled paper boards, black leather label, gilt decorations and lettering.  First edition. Bound with:

• The Ballantyne-Humbug Handled, in a Letter to Sir Adam Ferguson. Second Edition.
• Reply to Mr Lockhart's Pamphlet, Entitled The Ballantyne-Humbug Handled. First Edition.
• Appendix. First Edition.

The three pamphlets and the appendix (not always present) that comprise the whole of the published hostilities over the Lockhart-Ballantyne controversy. 

When John Lockhart's biography of his famous father-in-law was published in 1837, it contained references to the Ballantynes which they found unflattering, particularly in regards to their handling of the business affairs of the Ballantyne printing and publishing firms, in which Scott was a silent partner. When those firms failed, along with Archibald Constable, in the financial panic of 1826, Scott was forced into bankruptcy. The Ballantynes defended themselves against Lockhart's veiled allegations, as have other scholars since, including Scott biographer Edgar Johnson.