Scott began work on Ivanhoe just as he was emerging from the severe gallstones-related illness which had plagued him while writing The Bride of Lammermoor and A Legend of Montrose. Although Scott had only finished writing A Legend of Montrose at the beginning of June 1819, John Ballantyne records the signing of the contract for Ivanhoe in his journal for the 8th of that month. In a letter of 14 June to his factor and amanuensis William Laidlaw, Scott indicates that he is keen to begin dictating the new novel. It is unlikely, however, that he had begun before suffering a recurrence of his illness in mid-June. According to Lockhart, this was so severe that Scott believed he was on the point of death and, at one point, called his family to his bedside so that he might take his leave. By 2 July, Scott was sufficiently recovered to have begun dictating the novel. It appears, from the extant manuscript, that Scott dictated most of the first two volumes before resuming writing by hand sometime before 19 August (by which date the second volume was complete).
Work on the third volume was very much slower due to a hold-up at the printers who were suffering a shortage of paper. Scott also complains of a 'very slow transcriber' (possibly Laidlaw) whose job it was to transcribe Scott's manuscript in order to preserve the anonymity of the 'Author of Waverley'. It seems likely that Scott, in his frustration, may have temporarily laid aside Ivanhoe and began work on The Monastery. Despite the delay the novel was complete by 10 November, but persisting paper shortages ensured that it was not published in Edinburgh until 18 December. London publication had to wait until 31 December, as the ship carrying copies to Scott's London publisher Hurst, Robinson, and Co. was caught in a storm. Published so close to the end of the year, Ivanhoe bore the date 1820 on its title-page.