In the 1920s, the eminent French novelist and critic Andre Gide was given a copy of James Hogg's neglected masterpiece, "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" (a824), and went on to record how he had read "this astounding book with a stupefaction and admiration that increased at every page". Many readers have subsequently shared Gide's enthusiasm, and the text is novel widely recognized as one of the outstanding British novels of the Romantic era. This edition aims to increase our understanding of undetected references. It also throws light on the remarkable story of the novel's genesis, while providing the first full and accessible charting of its diverse cultural, theological, geographical and historical contexts.