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Waverley novels

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.

Illustration from The Graphic of Arthur Sullivan's operatic adaptation of Ivanhoe.

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.

Order of publication

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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 1794
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 (Scotland) 1689
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

Chronological order, by setting

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  • 1097: Count Robert of Paris
  • 1187–94: The Betrothed, The Talisman, Ivanhoe (3)
  • 1307: Castle Dangerous
  • 1396: The Fair Maid of Perth
  • 1468–77: Quentin Durward, Anne of Geierstein (2)
  • 1547–75: The Monastery, The Siege of Malta, The Abbot, Kenilworth (4)
  • 1616–18: The Fortunes of Nigel
  • 1644–89: A Legend of Montrose, Woodstock, Peveril of the Peak, The Tale of Old Mortality, The Pirate (5)
  • 1700–99: The Black Dwarf, The Bride of Lammermoor, Rob Roy, Heart of Midlothian, Waverley, Guy Mannering, Redgauntlet, The Antiquary (8)
  • 19th century: St. Ronan's Well

Editions

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Set of Scott's Waverley Novels

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.

Placenames

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View from the Scott Monument of the Waverley Station roof, in Edinburgh, with Arthur's Seat in the background

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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The first series of Chronicles of the Canongate contained two short stories ('The Highland Widow' and 'The Two Drovers'), and a short novel The Surgeon's Daughter, set in the second half of the 18th century, partly in India.
  2. ^ A further novel, The Siege of Malta, set in the Mediterranean in 1565, and an incomplete novella Bizarro, set in Calabria in the first two decades of the 19th century, were first published in 2008.
  3. ^ "Harris County". Harris County.
  4. ^ "History of Humphreys County Tennessee". Humphreys County Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on May 16, 2007.
  5. ^ "List" (PDF). kenkrakow.com. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  6. ^ Kendall, Ian (January 2011) [June 2004]. "Scottish Place Names in Melbourne, Australia". Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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  • A typically enthusiastic essay on the Waverley Novels, published in 1912
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