The contents are as follows:

(i) Printed pages of “Blackwood's Magazine”, containing the articles corresponding to the 1828 edition, chapters iii-v, viii-x, xii, xvi-xxiii (folios 119-157);

(ii) Manuscript of all the matter in the 1828 edition not contained in (i) above, except 'The Curate of Suverdsio' in chapter xi (folios 1-32, 41-55, 75-80, 83-84);

(iii) Manuscript of 'The June Jaunt', “Blackwood's Magazine”, December 1828; this forms chapter xxii of the 1839 edition but does not appear in that of 1828 (folios 56-59);

(iv) Manuscript copy for the 1839 edition: the later part of chapter xi and chapter xxiv (folios 33-40, 67-74);

(v) Manuscript of chapter xxiii of the 1839 edition, on paper watermarked 1824, but not published in 1828 (folios 60-66);

(vi) Manuscript material, on paper watermarked 1822-1827, not published in ‘Mansie Wauch’: 'The Walk with James Batter', 'Notes', apparently on poems, 'Dan Cathie, Tobacconist', 'The Exposition', published as 'The Shaving Shop', “Blackwood's Magazine”, November 1828, and fragments (folios 81-82, 85-118);

Throughout the printed matter and most of the manuscript, which is in the author's autograph, the language of the text is anglicized by corrections, apparently all in his hand. These changes are made in the narrative only, not in the dialogue, and consist in the modification of spellings, inflexions, etc., rather than in the elimination of Scottish words. The text of the two editions follows these corrections, besides containing further alterations.

Inside the front cover is a history of this manuscript.