For the attribution of the work to John Colville, see the preface by David Laing in ‘Original Letters of Mr John Colville 1582-1603’ (Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club, 1858).
The work was first published in its original form in 1804, edited by Malcolm Laing, the historian. However, an earlier version had appeared in 1706 under the title ‘Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland containing a full and impartial account of the Revolution in that Kingdom begun in 1567’, published by David Crawford, historiographer for Scotland, but the text does not correspond with the manuscript, having been much altered by the editor; it was reprinted in 1753 and 1757.
In 1825 the Bannatyne Club published the history, edited by Thomas Thomson, with a continuation to 1617, which had mainly been taken from an older manuscript source in the library of Newbattle Abbey.