By the author of Waverley

[Sir Walter Scott]. Rob Roy. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1818. Three volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.

Rob Roy takes place just before the Jacobite rising of 1715 and tells the story of Francis Osbaldistone, the son of a wealthy London merchant. In search of a debt stolen from his father, he travels north, encountering the singular Scotsman Rob Roy Macgregor, who, though not the major character is integral to the plot’s development.

Rob Roy was an immense commercial and critical success. The first edition of 10,000 copies – a huge figure for the time – sold out within two weeks. By this time Scott’s success as a novelist had eclipsed his vogue as a poet, writing his final long poem, Harold the dauntless, in the same year. Rob Roy remains one of his most widely read and translated works today.

[Sir Walter Scott]. Rob Roy. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1818. Three volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.
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[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: second series. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, 1818. Four volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.

The Heart of Midlothian was published as the second series of Tales of my landlord. The story takes its name from the old Edinburgh Tolbooth, or prison and opens with a vivid depiction of the Porteous riot of 1736.

[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: second series. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, 1818. Four volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.
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[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: second series. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, 1818. Four volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.

The central character of The Heart of Midlothian, Jeanie Deans, was inspired by Helen Walker’s journey on foot from Edinburgh to London to gain a pardon for her sister on a charge of child murder.

The novel’s reception by Scott’s contemporaries was somewhat lukewarm, at least among the critics. Today it is widely considered his greatest novel.

[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: second series. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, 1818. Four volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.
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[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: third series. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown … ; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1819. Four volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.

The third series of Tales of my landlord comprises two novels, The bride of Lammermoor, and the shorter A legend of Montrose.

Written when Scott was critically ill with gallstones, The bride of Lammermoor is a tale of foredoomed love and, unusually for Scott, features a tragic ending. Based upon a real life family tragedy which occurred in 1669, Scott transposes the action to the period just before the Union of Scotland and England in 1707.

[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of my landlord: third series. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown … ; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1819. Four volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.
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