The Image of Irelande with a Discoverie of Woodkarne. By John Derricke, 1581. With Notes by Sir Walter Scott. Edited by John Small. Edinburgh, 1883. (See Somers' Tracts, Vol. I.)
The Centenary Catalogue says that Scott and his friend William Erskine edited this book together. In the Advertisement the publishers (John Ballantyne & Co.) say: "To one eminent individual, whose name they do not venture to particularize, they are indebted for most valuable assistance in selection, arrangement, and contribution; and to that individual they take this opportunity to present the humble tribute of their thanks, for a series of kindnesses, of which that now acknowledged is among the least." There is no critical apparatus. The book contains original poems by Scott, Southey, Rogers, Joanna Baillie, and others not so well known.
Another edition, 4 vols. London 1858, has these words on the title-page: "A new edition, revised and corrected; with additional notes, and an historical introduction, attributed to Sir Walter Scott." I have found no external evidence that Scott was the editor. The introduction sounds as if Scott wrote it, but that so much work could have been done by him without occasioning any record seems unlikely. There is a historical introduction of 35 pp., and copious notes. The book is one with which Scott was familiar. See Memoirs of Robert Carey, pp. 34 and 41.
The biographical preface is given in the Miscellaneous Prose Works. The notes are by Miss Seward.
I find no evidence that Scott was the editor of this book, but it is sometimes ascribed to him in library catalogues. It contains merely a two-page introduction and brief notes, and a collection of plays. (See above, p. 52, note.)
Vols. I and II, Tragedies, with introduction in vol. I.
Vols. III and IV, Comedies, with introduction in vol. III.
Vol. V, Operas and Farces, with introduction.
These volumes apparently belong to the same collection as the Ancient British Drama, noted above, and the external evidence for Scott's authorship is the same. But the introductions are fuller, and they sound very much like Scott. (See above, p. 52, note.)
Reprinted in 1846, 1853, 1864. This last edition, in the Bohn Library, has about 100 pp. of historical notes.