The papers include:

Part of Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Life of Napoleon Buonaparte’, chapter iii, in the hand of an amanuensis, with corrections in Scott’s autograph (folio 9);

Statement of the sales of the ‘Letters of Malachi Malagrowther’, 1826-1827 (folio 23);

Note by James Ballantyne of John Murray’s proposals regarding the publication of Scott’s works (folio 35);

Letter, apparently to John Gibson Lockhart criticising his ‘History of Napoleon’, 1830 (folio 39);

Papers regarding the capture and sale of the smuggler ‘Rosamond’, including the journal of Walter Crawfurd, Riding Officer of the Excise, and a list of expenses in the handwriting of Robert Burns, 1792 (printed in the ‘Burns Chronicle’, 1934) (folio 49);

Map of the Rokeby district, apparently drawn by J B S Morritt (folio 60);

Commentary on H J Todd’s edition of Johnson’s ‘Dictionary’ apparently addressed to Lockhart (folio 63);

Facsimile of Anna Seward’s posthumous letter to Archibald Constable, 1807 (folio 64).