The Spy: A Periodical Paper of Literary Amusement and Instruction

Hogg’s extremely rare periodical of 1810-11 shows him reacting to the writers, personalities and locales of Scotland’s capital city after his move to Edinburgh from Ettrick and his career change from shepherd and farmer to professional author. His characteristically astute and idiosyncratic vision reveals a rather different city from that of Walter Scott and Francis Jeffrey, and his band of contributors form another audience for his work than the middle-class Tories associated with the later Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. The Spy includes early versions of some of Hogg’s best-known poetry and prose besides a wealth of fascinating lesser-known material.

Cod: 9780748614172