Last of the Lairds
Regular price
€107.99
The Last of the Lairds (1826) is the last in a series of Scottish novels including Annals of the Parish (1821) and The Provost (1822). Here, Galt depicts Malachi Mailings of Auldbiggings, a foolish old laird struggling to come to terms with new economic forces and a rapidly changing Scotland represented by the wealthy Nabob, Mr Rupees, to whom the laird's property is mortgaged. The book was composed during Galt's departure for North America, an adventure which opened up a new series of novels including Lawrie Todd (1830) and Bogle Corbet (1831). Galt's travel plans led to the work being brought to a close rather quickly, leaving the editorial work and the writing of the final chapters to his friend David Macbeth Moir. The Last of the Lairds is therefore unique in its collaborative nature and for its place between two eras of Galt's life as a writer.
John Galt was a Scottish novelist, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator. Craig Lamont is Lecturer in Scottish Studies at the University of Glasgow, working across Scottish Literature and Scottish History. He has worked on the Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Works of Allan Ramsay and the Oxford Edition of the Works of Robert Burns, and has published new editions of Dorothy K. Haynes. He co-edited 1820: Scottish Rebellion, Essays on a Nineteenth-Century Insurrection (2022). His monograph The Cultural Memory of Georgian Glasgow was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2021. His chief research interests are memory, print culture, and bibliography.