A Second Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, From Malachi Malagrowther, Esq. on the Proposed Change of Currency, and Other Late ... Intended to Affect, the Kingdom of Scotland de Sir Walter Scott (Creator) - 2012-08-01

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Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Company, for William Blackwood,, 1826. First separate edition of Scott's Second Letter from Malachi Malagrowther, the centrepiece in three letters Scott published expressing his views in the debate on the Bank Act of 1826, "recognized as a classic in political argument" (ODNB). The monetary crisis of 1825 led the government to propose a reform in the banking system which would restrict the issue of notes exclusively to the Bank of England. "The Scottish bankers, having got wind of what was proposed, feared for their £1 notes. They mounted the most vigorous political campaign in British banking history. They launched it against what they regarded as a mortal blow to their system... Sir Walter Scott, assuming the transparent mask of 'Malachi Malagrowther' published a pamphlet which attracted a great deal of attention" (Checkland, Scottish Banking: A History, p. 437). The letters were published first in the Edinburgh Weekly Journal (22 February, 1 March, and 8… Leer más

Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Company for William Blackwood, Edinburgh: and T. Cadell, Strand, London, 1826. Second edition of the first two Letters, First edition of the Third Letter. 60; 86, [2, blank]; 39 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Half red morocco preserving nineteenth-century marbled boards. Fine. Second edition of the first two Letters, First edition of the Third Letter. 60; 86, [2, blank]; 39 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. "change every thing in Scotland to an English model". "In this series of 'Letters' defending the issuance of Scottish banknotes Scott benefits from his work on Swift by patterning the Malachi Malagrowther letters on Swift's Drapier's Letters" (Todd & Bowden p. 621). "In February 1826 there may have been a degree of calculation in Scott's entering the debate on a government measure introduced to deal with the economic crisis which would have restricted the rights of the Scottish banks to issue their own notes, but Scott represented it as a nationalist issue, 'the late disposition to… Leer más