The title was occasioned by the delay in the publication of Matthew Lewis's Tales of Terror, and the little book contains poems which Scott had contributed to that work.

(The contents are named in the Catalogue of the Centenary Exhibition.) 1800 The Eve of St.John, a Border ballad.
1802-3 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border; consisting of historical and romantic ballads, collected in the southern counties of Scotland; with a few of modern date founded upon local tradition.
3 vols.Vols.I and 2, Kelso, 1802; vol.3, Edinburgh, 1803.
Second edition, 1803.

The book was republished frequently before 1830, when it was included in the collected edition of Scott's poems.

It has also been reprinted independently since then several times.

The latest and most complete edition is that published in 1902, edited by T.F.Henderson.