Waverley Novels
Sir Walter Scott

This item is sold. It has been placed here in our online archives as a service for researchers and collectors.

Waverley Novels
Cover Portrait
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
Waverley Novels
Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1871
Twenty-five volumes
Octavo, half tan calf. Marbelized boards, endpapers and edges
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Sir Walter Scott was a novelist, poet, historian, and biographer who is often considered the inventor of historical novel. He began his literary career writing narrative poetry and editing multi-volume editions of John Dryden and Jonathan Swift. In 1814, he turned his attention to writing novels, and his first one, Waverley, was an immediate success. He followed up with a series of novels that, like Waverley, were set in his native Scotland and vividly depicted characters from all segments of Scottish society, the most popular of which is Ivanhoe, a story set in the 12th Century. These books are gathered into this set of 25 volumes, and their achievement is described in this paragraph from the Encyclopædia Brittanica:

"Scott gathered the disparate strands of contemporary novel-writing techniques into his own hands and harnessed them to his deep interest in Scottish history and his knowledge of antiquarian lore. The technique of the omniscient narrator and the use of regional speech, localized settings, sophisticated character delineation, and romantic themes treated in a realistic manner were all combined by him into virtually a new literary form, the historical novel. His influence on other European and American novelists was immediate and profound, and though interest in some of his books declined somewhat in the 20th century, his reputation remains secure."

Reference:

"Scott, Sir Walter, 1st Baronet." Encyclopædia Brittanica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=68079&tocid=0