WALTER SCOTT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17238, 19 April 1930, Page 10

WALTER SCOTT

LETTERS FOR NATION £20,000 TREASURES The private letter-books of Sir Walter Scott, which contain 6000 letters from the foremost men and women of his time, are to be left to the nation by Mr. Hugh Walpolc, the novelist. They are to be housed in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh. This gift, which is the most interesting and important literary bequest Scotland has received for many years, recalls a romance of the sale room. The letterbooks, 32 in number, nro those in which Sir Walter Scott bound all the most interesting letters he received over a period of nearly 30 years. They eluded the eyes of "Scott's biographers, and were kept at Abbotsford for many years until just after the war, when they found their way into a London sale room. Mr. Hugh Walpole, who is an ardent collector of Scott's first editions and manuscripts, happened to be present, but had faint hopes of securing such a prize, for it seemed certain that documents of such interest would go to an American millionaire. Tho bidding started at a remarkably low figure, and Mr. Walpole realised that, luckily for him, the American buyers were not present. lie immediately stepped in and socured the Scott letter.-books at a price probably 20 or 30 times below their present value, which is said to be about £20,000.