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The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe.
Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the series takes its name from Waverley , the first novel of the series, released in 1814. The later books bore the words "by the author of Waverley" on their title pages.
The Tales of my Landlord sub-series was not advertised as "by the author of Waverley" and thus is not always included as part of the Waverley Novels series.
Title | Published | Main setting | Period |
---|---|---|---|
Waverley , or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since | 1814 | Perthshire (Scotland) | 1745–1746 |
Guy Mannering , or, The Astrologer | 1815 | Galloway (Scotland) | 1760-5, 1781–2 |
The Antiquary | 1816 | North-East Scotland | 1790s |
Tales of My Landlord, 1st series: | |||
The Black Dwarf | 1816 | Scottish Borders | 1707 |
The Tale of Old Mortality | 1816 | Southern Scotland | 1679–89 |
Rob Roy | 1818 | Northumberland (England), and the environs of Loch Lomond (Scotland) | 1715–16 |
Tales of My Landlord, 2nd series: | |||
The Heart of Midlothian | 1818 | Edinburgh and Richmond, London | 1736 |
Tales of My Landlord, 3rd series: | |||
The Bride of Lammermoor | 1819 | East Lothian (Scotland) | 1709–11 |
A Legend of Montrose | 1819 | Scottish Highlands | 1644-5 |
Ivanhoe | 1819 | Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire (England) | 1194 |
The Monastery | 1820 | Scottish Borders | 1547–57 |
The Abbot | 1820 | Various in Scotland | 1567-8 |
Kenilworth | 1821 | Berkshire and Warwickshire (England) | 1575 |
The Pirate | 1822 | Shetland and Orkney | 1690s |
The Fortunes of Nigel | 1822 | London and Greenwich (England) | 1616–18 |
Peveril of the Peak | 1822 | Derbyshire, the Isle of Man, and London | 1658–80 |
Quentin Durward | 1823 | Tours and Péronne (France) Liège (Wallonia/Belgium) | 1468 |
St. Ronan's Well | 1824 | Southern Scotland | early 19th century |
Redgauntlet | 1824 | Southern Scotland, and Cumberland (England) | 1766 |
Tales of the Crusaders: | |||
The Betrothed | 1825 | Wales, and Gloucester (England) | 1187–92 |
The Talisman | 1825 | The Holy Land | 1191 |
Woodstock , or, The Cavalier | 1826 | Woodstock and Windsor (England) Brussels, in the Spanish Netherlands | 1652 |
Chronicles of the Canongate, 2nd series: [1] | |||
St Valentine's Day, or, The Fair Maid of Perth | 1828 | Perthshire (Scotland) | 1396 |
Anne of Geierstein , or, The Maiden in the Mist | 1829 | Switzerland and Eastern France | 1474–77 |
Tales of my Landlord, 4th series: [2] | |||
Count Robert of Paris | 1831 | Constantinople and Scutari (now in Turkey) | 1097 |
Castle Dangerous | 1831 | Lanarkshire (Scotland) | 1307 |
The novels were all originally printed by James Ballantyne on the Canongate in Edinburgh. James Ballantyne was the brother of one of Scott's close friends, John Ballantyne ("Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh").
There are two definitive editions. One is the "Magnum Opus", a 48-volume set published between 1829 and 1833 by Robert Cadell, based on previous editions, with new introductions and notes by Scott. This was the basis of almost all subsequent editions until the appearance of the standard modern edition, the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, a 30-volume set, based on early-edition texts emended mainly from the surviving manuscripts, published by Edinburgh University Press between 1993 and 2012.
In Scotland, Waverley Station and Waverley Bridge in Edinburgh were named after these novels.
In North America, the towns of Waverly, Colorado; Waverly, Nebraska; Waverly, Illinois; Waverly, South Dakota; Waverly, New York; Waverley, Nova Scotia; Waverly, Ohio; Waverly Hall, Georgia; [3] Waverly, Tennessee, [4] and Waverly, Iowa, take their names from these novels, as does Waverley School in Louisville, Kentucky, which later became the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.
The unincorporated community of Ellerslie, Georgia is believed to be named for a character in the novels, Captain Ellerslie. [5]
In Australia, the Melbourne suburbs of Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley and also Ivanhoe, were named after the novels as well. [6] The Sydney suburb of Waverley is also named after the novel.
In New Zealand there is a suburb in Dunedin and a North Island town in the province of Taranaki called Waverley.
Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more recent past. Ivanhoe became one of Scott’s best-known and most influential novels.
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish historian, novelist, poet, and playwright. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature.
Waverly is a city in and the county seat of Humphreys County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,297 at the 2020 census.
Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since is a historical novel by Walter Scott (1771–1832). Scott was already famous as a poet, and chose to publish it anonymously in 1814 as his first venture into prose fiction. It is often regarded as one of the first historical novels in the Western tradition.
Waverley may refer to:
James Ballantyne was a Scottish solicitor, editor and publisher who worked for his friend Sir Walter Scott. His brother John Ballantyne (1774–1821) was also with the publishing firm, which is noted for the publication of the Novelist's Library (1820), and many works edited or written by Scott.
The Bride of Lammermoor is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819, one of the Waverley novels. The novel is set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland, shortly before the Act of Union of 1707, or shortly after the Act. It tells of a tragic love affair between young Lucy Ashton and her family's enemy Edgar Ravenswood. Scott indicated the plot was based on an actual incident. The Bride of Lammermoor and A Legend of Montrose were published together anonymously as the third of Scott's Tales of My Landlord series. The story is the basis for Donizetti's 1835 opera Lucia di Lammermoor.
The Talisman is one of the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott. Published in 1825 as the second of his Tales of the Crusaders, it is set during the Third Crusade and centres on the relationship between Richard I of England and Saladin.
Old Mortality is one of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott. Set in south west Scotland, it forms, along with The Black Dwarf, the 1st series of his Tales of My Landlord (1816). The novel deals with the period of the Covenanters, featuring their victory at Loudoun Hill and their defeat at Bothwell Bridge, both in June 1679; a final section is set in 1689 at the time of the royalist defeat at Killiekrankie.
A Legend of Montrose is an historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the 1640s during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It forms, along with The Bride of Lammermoor, the 3rd series of Scott's Tales of My Landlord. The two novels were published together in 1819.
The Heart of Mid-Lothian is the seventh of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels. It was originally published in four volumes on 25 July 1818, under the title of Tales of My Landlord, 2nd series, and the author was given as "Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster and Parish-clerk of Gandercleugh". The main action, which takes place between September 1736 and May 1737, is set in motion by the Porteous Riots in Edinburgh and involves an epic journey from Edinburgh to London by a working-class girl to obtain a royal commutation of the death penalty incurred by her sister for the alleged murder of her new-born baby. Despite some negative contemporary reviews, some now consider it Scott's best novel.
One of the Waverley Novels by Walter Scott, The Black Dwarf was part of his Tales of My Landlord, 1st series (1816). It is set in 1708, in the Scottish Borders, against the background of the first uprising to be attempted by the Jacobites after the Act of Union.
The Monastery: a Romance (1820) is a historical novel by Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. Set in the Scottish Borders in the 1550s on the eve of the Reformation, it is centred on Melrose Abbey.
Count Robert of Paris (1832) was the second-last of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott. It is part of Tales of My Landlord, 4th series, along with Castle Dangerous. The novel is set in Constantinople at the end of the 11th century, during the build-up of the First Crusade and centres on the relationship between the various crusading forces and the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus.
Castle Dangerous (1831) was the last of Walter Scott's Waverley novels. It is part of Tales of My Landlord, 4th series, with Count Robert of Paris. The castle of the title is Douglas Castle in Lanarkshire, and the action, based on an episode in The Brus by John Barbour, is set in March 1307 against the background of the First War of Scottish Independence.
Chronicles of the Canongate is a collection of stories by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1827 and 1828 in the Waverley novels series. They are named after the Canongate, in Edinburgh.
John Ballantyne (1774–1821) was a Scottish publisher notable for his work with Walter Scott, a pre-eminent author of the time.
The Journal of Sir Walter Scott is a diary which the novelist and poet Walter Scott kept between 1825 and 1832. It records the financial disaster which overtook him at the beginning of 1826, and the efforts he made over the next seven years to pay off his debts by writing bestselling books. Since its first complete publication in 1890 it has attracted high praise, being considered by many critics one of the finest diaries in the language.
The Siege of Malta is a historical novel by Walter Scott written from 1831 to 1832 and first published posthumously in 2008. It tells the story of events surrounding the Great Siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks in 1565.
Claire Lamont is an Emeritus Professor of English literature at Newcastle University and a specialist in the oeuvres of Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. She was a winner of the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1983.