Detail View: Walter Scott Image Collection:

Work Record ID: 
0030549
Licence: 
Shelfmark: 
Corson P.1334
Title: 
Melrose Abbey
Alternate Title: 
Engraving of Melrose Abbey by G.B. Smith after R.W. Billings
Creator: 
Billings, Robert William
Creator Role: 
Artist
Associate Creator: 
Smith, G. B.
Associate Creator Role: 
Engraver
Date: 
1845-1852
Description: 
Depicts a close view of the east side of the ruins of Melrose Abbey, Scottish Borders. Sir Walter Scott coordinated the restoration of Melrose Abbey in 1822. The Abbey features in many of Scott's works, most famously The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805): 'If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, | Go visit it by the pale moonlight [...] | Then view St. David's ruin'd pile; | And, home returning, soothly swear, | Was never scene so sad and fair!' (canto II, stanza I, lines 1-2, 16-18). The religious house of Kennaquhair in The Monastery and The Abbot (both 1820) is also based on the Abbey, and it is described in detail in Scott's 'Essay on Border Antiquities' (1814).
Work Type: 
Engraving
Measurement: 
26.9 x 20.8cm (10 9/16 x 8 3/16")
Material: 
Ink
Material: 
Paper
Technique: 
Engraving
Location: 
TBC/Main Library/Special Collections
Repository: 
Corson Collection
Source: 
Billings, R.W. The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, vol. IV. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1845-52 (plate 7)
Subject Person: 
Scott, Walter, Sir
Subject Place: 
Melrose Abbey
Subject Category: 
Fiction
Subject Category: 
Poetry
Subject Category: 
Settings
Related Work Title: 
Lay of the Last Minstrel, The
Related Work Creator: 
Scott, Walter, Sir
Related Work Title: 
Monastery, The
Related Work Creator: 
Scott, Walter, Sir
Related Work Title: 
Abbot, The
Related Work Creator: 
Scott, Walter, Sir
Related Work Title: 
Essay on Border Antiquities
Related Work Creator: 
Scott, Walter, Sir
Repro File Type: 
Derivative TIFF
Repro File Size (bytes): 
77409440
Repro Capture Date: 
23/04/2012 16:57:00
Repro Rights Statement: 
© The University of Edinburgh