British artiques Roadshow Archive: Rare Books
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
 
 

British Poet and novelist was the author of

"The Waverley novels" Edinburgh Edition, Cadell Co., 1829

Sir Walter Scott is considered to be the father of both the regional and the historical novel

 


 

 A dramatic Roadshow discovery was a signed 'Edinburgh Edition' of the Waverley Novels. It is the first critical edition of Scott's fiction and a very rare book indeed. This work is Inscribed by the author himself

 

 

 

 

 

Biography:

 

The son of an Edinburgh lawyer, Walter Scott was born in College Wynd, Edinburgh at the top of Guthrie Street and was raised at 25 George Square, where the family lived until the death of Walter Scott, Senior.

The young Walter Scott attended the Royal High School and the University of Edinburgh and was called to the bar in 1792.

He married Charlotte Mary Carpenter in 1797 and moved to a house in Castle Street, Edinburgh before moving to Ashestiel on the Tweed in 1804.

 Abbotsford on the Tweed, which became Scotts country home was purchased in 1812.

He continued his legal career, at the same time making his name as a collector and editor of ballads ("Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border", 3 vols 1802-1803) and a poet ("Lay of the Last Minstrel", 1805, etc.); he was a lifelong friend and collaborator of James Hogg ('The Ettrick Shepherd') and of Professor John Wilson ('Christopher North').

He became a partner in James Ballantyne's printing business in 1809 and purchased the house, Abbotsford on the Tweed in 1812.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Mrs Phyn and all the young ladies under her ......cary of education with the best wishes of the author

Abbotsford 29 October 1830

 

Published in 60 volumes, this is the first rare collected edition of the book. It has engraved frontispieces and vignette title pages in each volume. 12mo (in sixes), contemporary half calf & marbled boards gilt lettered on spines and decorated raised bands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Abbotsford on the Tweed in 1829, Sir Walter Scott wrote the General Preface to the Waverley Novels as part of the 'Magnum Opus,' the definitive version of the Waverley Novels.


  Sir Walter Scott remains one of Scotland's greatest men of letters. His influence was as far reaching as his works were commercially successful - His poetry earned him an offer of the laureateship, which he refused and was considered totally original in style among the Romantics.

 

 



 

 

 
His first novels ("Waverley", 1814, etc.) were published anonymously, but he had to use the security of his copyrights, as well as the publication of the later novels, to meet the debts incurred as a result of the failure in 1826 of 'Constable and Ballantyne,' his publisher as well as his business partner.

Scott masterminded the visit to Edinburgh in 1822 of King George IV and did much to create the historically romantic image of Scotland enjoyed by the Victorians and later generations.

John BALLANTYNE (1774-1821), was the printer of the Waverley novels


david Freeman 2004

 

The first novel' Waverley" was signed, dedicated and inscribed to the original owner Mrs Sarah Phyn in 1830 and a hand written letter also signed by Scott from Abbotsford 29th October 1830 accompanied the treasure.

 

 

 

 

 

I

Scotts study in Abbotsford and likely the very desk from

which Scott wrote the letter to Mrs Phyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott is also remembered for his support for the retention of low - denomination banknotes.

 

 

 

 

Jackie Freeman Photography

  

About our researchers Freemanart + CONTACT 

 

Bibliography: Sir Walter Scott

Books, Novels and Published works:

Books:

Waverley (1814) aka Tis Sixty Years Since

Guy Mannering (1815)

The Antiquary (1816)

Rob Roy (1817)

Old Mortality: Tales of My Landlord (1816)

The Black Dwarf: Tales of My Landlord (1816)

A Legend of Montrose (1819)

The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)

The Heart of Midlothian (1818)

Ivanhoe (1819)

The Monastery (1820)

The Abbot (1820)

Kenilworth (1821)

Pirate (1822)

The Fortunes of Nigel (1822)

Peveril Of The Peak (1823)

Quentin Durward (1823)

St. Ronan's Well (1823)

Redgauntlet: A Tale Of The Eighteenth Century (1824)

Woodstock: Or The Cavalier (1826)

Tales of the Crusaders - The Talisman (1825)

The Fair Maid of Perth: or St. Valentine's Day Chronicles of the Canongate - Second Series

and The Antiquary (1828)

Anne of Geierstein: or The Maiden of the Mist

(1829)

Count Robert Of Paris (1832)

The Highland Widow (1827)

The Surgeon's Daughter (1827)

Tales of the Crusaders - The Betrothed (1825)

 

 

 

 


Novels

The Eve of St. John (1800)

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1803)

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Marmion (1808)

The Lady in the Lake (1810)

The Bridal of Triermain (1813)

Rokeby (1813)

Halidon Hill (1822)

Chronicles of the Canongate (1827)

Castle Dangerous (1831)

 

Collections:

 

Ballads and Lyrical Pieces (1806)

Selected Poems (poems) (1972)

The Supernatural Stories of Sir Walter Scott (1977)

Non fiction

The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the

French (1827)

Waverley Anecdotes: Illustrating some of the Popular Characters, Scenes and Incidents in the Novels and Romances of Sir Walter Scott (1890)

 

Anthologies containing stories by Sir Walter Scott

A Century of Thrillers: From Poe to Arlen (1934)

The Mystery Book (1934)

The Great Book of Thrillers (1935)

A Century of Ghost Stories (1936)

Great British Tales of Terror: Gothic Stories of Horror

and Romance 1765-1840 (1972)

The 12th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1976)

The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories (1984)

Great Short Stories of the World (1986)

The World's Library of Best Books Volume Two (1989)

The Open Door: And Other Ghost Stories (1990)

Fantastic Tales: Visionary and Everyday (1993)

Vampires, Wine and Roses (1997)

100 Twisted Little Tales of Torment (1998)

 

 

 


Short stories

 Rokeby (excerpt) (1813)  

 Narrative of a Fatal Event (1818)  

 Wandering Willie's Tale (1824)  

 The Two Drovers (1827)  

 The Bridal of Janet Dalrymple  

 Redgauntlet (excerpt)  

 The Tale of the Mysterious Mirror  

 The Tapestried Chamber  

 

Subjective books about Sir Walter Scott

The Laird of Abbotsford: A View of Sir Walter Scott (1980) by A N Wilson

The Civilized Imagination: A Study of Ann Radcliffe, Jane Austen, and Sir Walter Scott (1985) by Daniel Cottom

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Sir Walter Scott'