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.

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

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

Editions

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.

Place names

Scott's Waverley novels provided an important cultural touchstone for British emigrants, especially those re-settling in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Among other forms of influence documented in Ann Rigney's The Afterlives of Walter Scott, many places are named for Waverley, its hero Ivanhoe, and the name Scott coined for own house, Abbotsford. The historian Ewan Morris has argued that Scott is second only to William Shakespeare for his legacy of places named after entirely fictional people.[3]

In Scotland, Waverley Station was named after the novels. Other names inspired by the novels include the paddle steamer Waverley and the Heart of Midlothian F.C.[4]

In the United States, towns named "Waverly" were founded in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana (including a New Waverly), Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas (including a New Waverly), Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.[5] Waverly Hall, Georgia is also named for the novel.[6]

In Australia and New Zealand, the series' legacy includes Waverley, New South Wales; Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley in Victoria; Waverley, Dunedin; Waverley, Invercargill; Waverley, Taranaki; Ivanhoe, New South Wales; Ivanhoe, Victoria; Kenilworth, Queensland; and Mannering Park (for Guy Mannering). Additionally, Abbotsford, New South Wales and Abbotsford, Victoria are named for Scott's house. However, Abbotsford, New Zealand and the former Abbotsford in Hawke's Bay were both named for men named Abbott (though the latter does have streets named Waverley and Kenilworth for the novels of those titles). Ewan Morris has argued that Scott's novels were seen as particularly appropriate for colonial settlement names -- which typically displaced existing inhabitants and their historical place names -- because the novels "imagine the experience of settlement in romantic but ultimately reassuring terms", and evoke a historical legitimacy for the colonialism of the British empire.[3]

See also

References

  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. ^ a b Morris, Ewan. "Sir Walter Scott and place names in Australia and New Zealand". Archived from the original on 2025-08-01. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  4. ^ "Memorialising Sir Walter Scott". www.historicenvironment.scot. Retrieved 2026-03-13.
  5. ^ Stapleton, Anne. "Town Beginnings". Under the Banner of Waverley.
  6. ^ "Harris County". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-03-13.
  • A typically enthusiastic essay on the Waverley Novels, published in 1912
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