Case 15
- Waverley novels 1824-1825
![[Sir Walter Scott]. <em>Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century.</em> [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/489534/15a.jpg)
[Sir Walter Scott]. Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.
Written
during the last years of Scott’s prosperity, Redgauntlet contains some of his finest writing, notably in
‘Wandering Willie’s tale’, a famous short story which frequently appears in
anthologies. Told by a blind itinerant fiddler, it is a cautionary tale warning
a young traveller, Darsie Latimer, to be wary of whose company he accepts on
his travels.
[Sir Walter Scott]. Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 1 displayed.
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![[Sir Walter Scott]. <em>Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century.</em> [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0007/489535/15b.jpg)
[Sir Walter Scott]. Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.
Redgauntlet describes the beginnings of a
fictional third Jacobite rebellion, championed by a Border laird, Redgauntlet,
or Herries of Birrenswork. It mixes epistolary and narrative modes and is
considered a throwback to the conventions of the eighteenth century novel.
Highly regarded today, it has an autobiographical flavour, with echoes of
Scott’s apprenticeship to the law in the character of Alan Fairford, and a fond
caricature of his father in the sternly Presbyterian Saunders Fairford. A
favourite of Scott’s and perhaps his most personal novel, Redgauntlet contains more parallels with his life than any other
‘Waverley novel’.
[Sir Walter Scott]. Redgauntlet: a tale of the eighteenth century. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1824. Three volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.
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![[Sir Walter Scott]. <em>Tales of the Crusaders.</em> Vol. I[-II]. <em>The betrothed.</em> [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0008/489536/15c.jpg)
[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of the Crusaders. Vol. I[-II]. The betrothed. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.
Scott
returned to the Middle Ages with a series of two historical novels written in
1825 and set during the Crusades, The
betrothed and, The talisman. The
lesser known novel of the two, The
betrothed is a tale of border conflicts between Anglo-Norman and Welsh
barons set in the Welsh Marches during reign of Henry II.
[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of the Crusaders. Vol. I[-II]. The betrothed. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 2 displayed.
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![[Sir Walter Scott]. <em>Tales of the Crusaders.</em> [Vol. 3 [-4] <em>The talisman</em>]. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 3 displayed.](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0010/489538/15d.jpg)
[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of the Crusaders. [Vol. 3 [-4] The talisman]. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 3 displayed.
The
better known of the two novels, The
talisman is set during the Third Crusade in Palestine in the time of
Richard I of England. The title refers to the amulet by which Saladin effects
the cure of Richard I and which he presents to the Scottish knight, revealed to
be Prince David of Scotland. It is perhaps the first novel in English to
portray Muslims in a positive light.
[Sir Walter Scott]. Tales of the Crusaders. [Vol. 3 [-4] The talisman]. [1st edition]. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, 1825. Four volumes; Vol. 3 displayed.
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