Partly to escape incessant public gossip about the authorship of Waverley, a novel which he refused to admit having written, in July 1814, Walter Scott joined his friend Will Erskine, Sheriff of Orkney, and the lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenson on a voyage around Scotland’s islands. Travelling aboard the yacht Pharos, the voyage was to survey lighthouses to ensure the safety of shipping lanes, but Scott used it to make observations of Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles and to gather notes on local customs, stories and folklore to inspire future works. On his return to Edinburgh, Scott discovered that Waverley had become hugely successful, selling out in five weeks with three further editions planned. After the lacklustre performance of Rokeby in 1813, the success was much welcomed by his publisher Archibald Constable and Scott was able to persuade him to support the publication of a new historical poem that he had started to prepare while aboard Pharos.
The new poem, The Lord of the Isles was inspired by the 1307 return of Robert the Bruce to Scotland from his exile in Ireland, his war against England and eventual victory at Bannockburn in 1314. Set within the historic context, Scott added a romantic tale between Edith of Lorn and Ronald, Lord of the Isles. On its publication in 1815, critics noted that the romance felt clumsy and Scott himself reported that he struggled to form the rhymes and develop the syntax. The public appeared to agree and the book was not as successful as its predecessors.
This is the copy presented by Scott to the Prince Regent, later George IV. The Prince Regent was a great admirer of Scott's works, preferring him 'to every bard past and present', as Lord Byron reported to Scott in July 1812. In 1813, on the death of Henry James Pye, the Poet Laureate, Scott was offered the vacant position, one which he declined with suitably diplomatic regret (the post went eventually to his friend Robert Southey). On the publication of Waverley, George guessed that Scott was the anonymous work's author and in 1815, he was invited to Carlton House for a 'snug little dinner ... to honour the author of Waverley'. Despite enjoying the full splendour of dinner with his royal host and questions about his authorship, Scott remained tight-lipped.
Walter Scott's acquaintance with George IV would culminate in the King's visit to Scotland in 1822, the first visit there by a British monarch since the Scottish Coronation of Charles II in 1651. The event was stage-managed with much Highland pomp and ceremony by Scott, and marked particularly by the revival of the tartan that had been suppressed after the 1745 Jacobite Rising.

This book is inscribed "His Royal Highness / The Prince Regent / from / The Author".