New Editions of Scott's Works

New Editions of Scott's Works

This page provides an annotated bibliography of new editions of Scott's works published since January 2000. It includes only editions with significant new editorial or critical content, or reprints of texts which have long been commercially unavailable. It does not include the growing number of print-on-demand or e-book facsimiles of earlier editions. Click here for a list of freely available e-texts of Scott's works. Click here for a list of recent editions of Scott in translation.

The Abbot, ed. Christopher Johnson (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000) xvi, 553 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 10. ISBN: 0748605754.

The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels is the first critical edition of Scott's fiction. It employs the first edition of Scott's novels as the base-text but incorporates manuscript readings lost through accident, error, misunderstanding, or a misguided attempt to improve, as printers struggled to set and print novels at high speed in often difficult circumstances. Each volume contains an essay on the work's genesis, composition, and editorial history, an historical note, a list of emendations, explanatory notes, and a glossary. This edition of Scott's 1820 novel The Abbot also draws on the evidence of early American editions based on an uncorrected second proof copy of Scott's text. The 'Historical note' seeks to produce the first coherent account of the family relationships in the novel.

Anne of Geierstein, ed. J. H. Alexander (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000) xvi, 580 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 22. ISBN: 074860586x.

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The editor J. H. Alexander argues that Anne of Geierstein (1829) is a remarkably modern novel, dealing with the political instability and violence that arise from the mix of peoples and the fluidity of European boundaries. An unjustly overlooked work, it illustrates the darkening of Scott's historical vision in the final part of his career.

The Antiquary, ed. and introd. Nicola Watson (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) xxxviii, 483 p. Oxford World Classics. ISBN: 0192831879

Based on the Magnum Opus edition of 1829. Editor Nicola Watson presents The Antiquary (1816) as Scott's most persistently overlooked work. She argues that its self-conscious and highly ironized exploration of the problems of retrieving and interpreting the historical can be seen as the key to the whole Waverley enterprise. Written in the aftermath of Waterloo, it is concerned with re-establishing the proper transmission of identity and inheritance, making the illegitimate legitimate, and restoring proper relations between past and present.

The Betrothed, ed. J. B. Ellis, J. H. Alexander, and David Hewitt (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009) xvi, 430 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 18a. ISBN: 9780748605811

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note explores the novel's setting at the time of the Third Crusade (1189–92) and shows how the heroine's fate is always determined by the agency of men as both individual claimants and differing cultures (Anglo-Norman and Welsh) strive for mastery over her. The Betrothed (the first of Scott's Tales of the Crusaders) is presented as a problem novel. Just as Scott was describing the full horrors of medieval arranged marriage, he was himself arranging the marriage of his elder son. It is a problem novel too in that it was deeply disliked by Scott's printer and publisher who forced significant changes. What Scott was required to do to meet their objections has been confronted for the first time in this, the first critical edition of the novel.

The Bride of Lammermoor, ed. J. H. Alexander, introd. Kathryn Sutherland (London; New York: Penguin Books, 2000) lii, 346 p. ISBN: 0140436561

Based on the 1996 Edinburgh Edition (also edited by Alexander), reproducing the text of the novel, historical note, explanatory notes, and glossary. A new critical introduction by Kathryn Sutherland calls into question J.G. Lockhart's account of the involuntary composition of The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) by a seriously ill and heavily drugged author. Stressing Scott's many interventions at proof stage and his use of a pre-existing source narrative, she presents the novel as a lucid meditation on the distinctions between oral and print narrative and between the tasks of romance and realism.

Castle Dangerous, ed. J. H. Alexander (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006) xvi, 424 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 23. ISBN: 0748605886

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note charts how Castle Dangerous is the realisation of a thirty-year old project to retell a story found in Barbour’s Brus. During the Scottish Wars of Independence, an English knight for a love wager commits himself to defend Douglas Castle against Scottish attempts to retake it. The ballad-like story embraces intriguing elements including national rivalry, and the idealisation and betrayal of love. The Douglas area, seen as an almost surrealist landscape of ravines, trenches, and tombs forms an appropriate setting for an impressively bleak narrative.

Chronicles of the Canongate, ed. Claire Lamont (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000) xvi, 516 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 20. ISBN: 0748605843

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. Chronicles of the Canongate (1827), Scott's only short-story collection, is here published in its original form, complete with its framing narrative, for only the second time since Scott's death. Claire Lamont traces the long ancestry of tales within a framework in European and Oriental literature, and argues that Scott adapts the genre with consummate skill. Collectively, 'The Two Drovers', 'The Highland Widow', and 'The Surgeon's Daughter' constitute a themed work treating cultural conflicts and difficulties of social translation in the new Britain and its growing empire in the thirty years from 1756.

Chronicles of the Canongate, ed. Claire Lamont (London; New York: Penguin Books, 2003) xlvi, 427 p. ISBN: 0140439897

Based on the 2000 Edinburgh Edition (also edited by Lamont), reproducing the text of the tales and connecting narrative, historical note, explanatory notes, and glossary. The critical material from the Edinburgh Edition is expanded into an introduction where the Chronicles is presented as three thematically united tales of protagonists leaving post-Union Scotland to seek their fortune elsewhere. Each tale is, however, tragic in its conclusion, preventing any sense of triumph at Scotland's growing internationalism.

Count Robert of Paris, ed. J. H. Alexander (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006) xvi, 562 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 23a. ISBN: 0748605878

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. Count Robert of Paris, condemned by Scott’s printer as ‘altogether a failure’, was originally prepared for publication by his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart and his publisher Robert Cadell. J. H. Alexander argues that they produced a bowdlerised, tamed and tidied version of what Scott had written and dictated. This edition returns to the manuscript and to the many surviving proofs in order to realise Scott’s original intentions. The novel has many roughnesses, but it also challenges the susceptibilities of Scott's readers more directly than any other. It is that which offended the lesser men who condemned it.

The Fortunes of Nigel, ed. Frank Jordan (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004) xvi, 770 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 13. ISBN: 0748605770

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. For Frank Jordan, The Fortunes of Nigel (1822) sits among Walter Scott’s richest creations in political insight, range of characterisation and linguistic virtuosity. Well versed in the political literature of the period, Scott draws a detailed picture of London in the early 17th century while charting the effects of Scottish influx into the English capital. He masterfully traces a complex web of political and sexual intrigue, and of financial dealings and double-dealing. Steeped in Jacobean drama, this tale shows Scott revelling in the linguistic riches of the age. Previous editions have obscured his stylistic virtuosity, but painstaking examination of the manuscript and proofs allows the full vigour of Scott’s achievement to be savoured for the first time.

Guy Mannering, ed. P. D. Garside, introd. Jane Millgate (London; New York: Penguin Books, 2003) xlv, 459 p. ISBN: 014043657X

Based on the 1999 Edinburgh Edition (also edited by Garside), reproducing the text of the novel, historical note, explanatory notes, and glossary. A new introduction by Jane Millgate argues that the difficulty of squaring Guy Mannering (1815) with a Lukácsian view of the historical novel has prevented critics from appreciating its originality. The use of two heroes (Mannering and Bertram) is, in many ways, as innovative as Waverley but it was not until the end of the 19th century that novelists like James learned from Scott's complex representation of a middle-aged hero.

The Heart of Mid-Lothian, ed. David Hewitt and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004) xvi, 770 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 6. ISBN: 0748605703

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The first edition of The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818) was peculiarly beset by copy-editing errors. Hewitt and Lumsden here attempt to create an 'ideal first edtion', working from Scott's manuscript and rejecting modifications introduced in the seven subsequent editions published in Scott's lifetime. The historical note presents the novel as Scott's only chronicle, spanning the life of David Deans, and charting revolutionary changes in the legal, religious, and cultural life of Scotland. The essay on the novel's genesis disputes Lockhart's account, and suggests that Scott took to heart Thomas McCrie's critique of his treatment of the Covenanters and sought to redress the balance through his portrayal of David and Jeannie Deans.

Ivanhoe, ed. and introd. Graham Tulloch (London; New York: Penguin Books, 2000) xlv, 496 p. ISBN: 0140436588

Based on the 1997 Edinburgh Edition (also edited by Tulloch), reproducing the text of the novel, historical note, explanatory notes, and glossary. A new critical introduction by Tulloch explores the conflicts dramatized in Ivanhoe (1820) between medieval and modern, history and romance, reality and fantasy, dialogue and revelation, disinheritance and the return of the true heir, and deracination and settlement. He argues that, rather than presenting an unambiguous myth of national unity, the novel's conclusion offers both integration and exclusion, settlement and deracination, peace and the continuing potential for violence.

Ivanhoe, introd. David Blair (London: Wordsworth, 2000) xxii, 439 p. Wordsworth Classics. ISBN: 1853267481

Based on the 1830 Magnum Opus edition, with corrections made against Scott's working materials and incorporating readings from Scott's manuscript.

Ivanhoe, afterword by Sharon Key Penman (New York: Signet Classic, 2001) 508 p. ISBN: 0451527992

Reprint of the 1962 Signet edition, using the 1904 Dryburgh text with a new afterword.

Ivanhoe, introd. Diana Gabaldon (New York: Modern Library, 2001) xlvii, 538 p. Modern Library Classics. ISBN: 0679642234

Unseen text; edition details unknown.

Sir Walter Scotts 'Ivanhoe': Newly Adapted for the Modern Reader, by David Purdie (Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited, 2012) 288 p. ISBN: 9781908373267

A retelling of Scott's novel for a modern audience which cuts its length by more than half.

The Lady of the Lake, ed. Thomas Crawford, introd. Douglas Gifford, forward by Alex Salmond, ill. Linda Farquharson (Glasgow: Association of Scottish Literary Studies, 2010) 256 p., ill. ISBN-10: 094887791X, ISBN-13: 9780948877919

To mark the 200th anniversary of The Lady of the Lake, the Association for Scottish Literary Studies, in partnership with the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, has produced a brand-new edition, with newly commissioned illustrations by leading Scottish artist Linda Farquharson. The text is extensively annotated.

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, introd. P. G. Maxwell-Stuart (Ware: Wordsworth in association with the Folklore Society, 2001) 239 p. ISBN: 1840225114

A reprint of Scott's 1830 study with the author's notes. Tracing Scott's lifelong interest in magic, P.G. Maxwell-Stuart argues that he does not simply make a post-Enlightenment distinction between superstitious past and rational present but expresses reservations about the scientific claims of his own day. Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft is at once 'a nineteenth-century demonological treatise in the grand tradition, a collection of stories told by a master of his craft, and an invaluable insight into the continuance of magic and witchcraft in an industrial age'.

Marmion, a Tale of Flodden Field: A Poem in Six Cantos (Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2001) 234 p. ISBN: 0898753821.

Facsimile reprint of the original 1808 edition of Marmion, reproduced from the best available copy, digitally enhanced.

The Monastery, ed. Penny Fielding (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000) xvi, 509 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 9. ISBN: 0748605746

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. Clarifying the novel's political background, editor Penny Fielding's historical note analyses how The Monastery (1820) is marked by conflict between a Catholic group pursuing the 'auld alliance' between Scotland and France, and a pro-English group who embraced Protestantism and sought to limit the powers wielded by the Catholic Queen Mary Stuart.

Napoleon Bonaparte: His Biography, ed Richard Michaelis (London: Gibson Square, 2003) 600 p. ISBN: 1903933234

Struck by the freshness of Scott's views on Napoleon, Richard Michaelis has produced an abridged and annotated edition of The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte (1827-28).

Peveril of the Peak, ed. Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007) xvi, 744 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 14. ISBN: 9780748605781

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note to the first scholarly edition of Scott's longest novel outlines how Peveril of the Peak explores the on-going tensions between Cavalier and Puritan loyalties during the fraught years of Restoration England. Ranging from Derbyshire to the Isle of Man and culminating in London, it is a novel which interweaves political intrigue, personal responsibilities and the ways in which the forces of history are played out in the struggles of individual human lives. But its true subject is perhaps the role of narration and the limits of storytelling itself.

The Pirate, ed. Mark Weinstein and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000) xvi, 607 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 12. ISBN: 0748605762

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The editors' historical note situates The Pirate (1822) in 1689 and suggests that Scott intends a parallel between the Glorious Revolution and the passing of the old order in Orkney and Shetland as Norwegian Udaller gives way to Scottish laird. It also stresses a further parallel with agricultural debate in Scott's own day as the novel balances the need to improve the agricultural methods of a subsistence economy against the force of tradition and the human cost of rapid change.

Quentin Durward, ed. J. H. Alexander and G. A. M. Wood (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001) 595 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 15. ISBN: 0748605797

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note shows how in Quentin Durward (1823), his first fictional foray onto the European continent, Scott studies the disintegration of the feudal system in fifteenth-century France, the first modern European state. It goes on to analyze Scott's imaginative use of his principal source, Philippe de Commynes's Chronique et Histoire, generally regarded as the first example of modern analytical history.

Redgauntlet, ed. G. A. M. Wood and David Hewitt, introd. David Hewitt (London; New York: Penguin, 2000) xlvii, 481 p. Penguin Classics. ISBN: 0140436553

Based on the 1997 Edinburgh Edition of Redgauntlet (1824), reproducing the text of the novel, historical note, explanatory notes, and glossary. A new critical introduction by David Hewitt depicts Darsie Latimer as the image of the Romantic artist who rebels against inherited discourses and through writing comes to understand himself but also to isolate himself. Darsie, he argues, articulates the values generated by a profound cultural shift in which the individual becomes more important than society.

Reliquiae Trotcosienses: Or, the Gabions of the Late Jonathan Oldbuck Esq. of Monkbarns, ed. Gerard Carruthers and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004) 160 p. ISBN: 0748620729

This is the first complete edition of one of Scott's last works, edited from the manuscript recently relocated in the library at Abbotsford. Reliquiae Trotcosienses is a guide to Abbotsford and to its collections, and illustrates in miniature all the different ways in which Scott tried to recover the past: in building, in collecting, and in the multiple acts of narration which invest objects with significance. But it is simultaneously a work of fiction, which satirises the impulses of antiquarian collection, and a personal, elegiac creation. As he approaches death, the narrator recognises that the house, its artefacts, and above all the writings will live on to mourn their begetter.

Rob Roy, introd. Allan Massie, wood engravings by George Tute (London: Folio Society, 2001) xv, 500 p.

Follows the text of the first edition (1818), with minor emendations and with a glossary derived from the 'Glossary to the Waverley Novels' published in 1833 as part of the Magnum Opus. The volume is bound by Cambridge University Press in buckram with paper sides hand-marbled by Ann Muir. In his introduction, Allan Massie argues that Rob Roy asserts the moral superiority of commerce over the world of feudal honour represented by Rob. Its true hero is Baillie Nicol Jarvie who forces us to see that civil society has virtues that uncivil society, however glamorous, cannot conceive.

Rob Roy, ed. David Hewitt (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008) xvi, 596 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 5. ISBN: 9780748605699

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note argues that Rob Roy is less concerned with the Jacobite Rising than with the economic and political conditions which brought it about, and the remarkable entrepreneurial spirit of the new Hanoverian capitalists which resisted it. It celebrates the freebooting daring of the hero's father in the City of London and, in the figure of the Glasgow merchant Nicol Jarvie, the robust balancing of generosity and selfish calculation which is required in successful enterprise.

Rosabelle: Harold’s Song, Bard of Brave St. Clair of Rosslyn Castle, Midlothian & Ravenscraig Castle, Kirkcaldy, from 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel', introd. Duncan Glen (Kirkcaldy: Akros, 2006) ISBN: 0861421779

Contains a lyric sung by Harold, Bard to the St. Clair (Sinclair) family, in canto VI, stanza 32 of The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

The Shorter Fiction, ed. Graham Tulloch and Judy King (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, c2009) xvi, 263 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 24. ISBN: 9780748605897

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. This collection of eight pieces of shorter fiction from periodicals extends from a satirical piece appearing in 1811 in The Edinburgh Annual Register through stories from The Sale-Room and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine to four stories published late in his life in The Keepsake. Only three of these stories were regularly reprinted. The other five are here made readily available for the first time, and show both Scott's versatility and his continuous exploration of the possibilities of fiction.

The Siege of Malta, and, Bizarro, ed. J. H. Alexander, Graham Tulloch, and Judy King (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, c2008) xiv, 511 p. + 1 CD-ROM. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels. ISBN-10: 0748624872, ISBN-13: 978-0748624874

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The Siege of Malta and 'Bizarro' are Scott's final works, written in Malta and Italy in 1831-32. Although extracts from the former have been published, this is the first complete edition. The Siege of Malta begins as a novel but ends as a historical account of the defence of Malta by the Order of St John of Jerusalem against much larger Muslim forces. It is an epic tale of endurance, resulting in the most hard-won of victories and setting the scene for the subsequent development of the Maltese nation. In the incomplete novella 'Bizarro', here published for the first time, Scott takes up the story of a notorious Calabrian brigand. He draws upon his experience of visiting Naples and its surroundings and pre-exising knowledge of Neapolitan history to tell a tale of passion, murder and revenge with a level of violence rarely seen in his earlier work. An accompanying CD-Rom provides access to a digital reproduction of the manuscripts.

Sir Tristrem, in The Invention of Middle English: An Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. David Matthews (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), pp. 138-57.

Annotated reprint of Sir Walter Scott's 1804 edition of the medieval romance fragment Sir Tristrem (see Scott the Poet), together with most of Scott's introductory essay. The editor's own introductory notes comment on the extraordinary persistence of Scott's vision of a Scottish Sir Tristrem, the work of Thomas of Ercildoune, rather than a Middle-English one. Includes suggestions for further reading on Scott's medievalism.

The Surgeon's Daughter (Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2002) 170 p. ISBN: 0898759129

Unseen text; facsimile of unidentified edition of Scott's 1827 novella.

Tales of a Scottish Grandfather, introd. George Grant (Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 2001) 4 vols. ISBN 1581821271, 158182128x, 1581821298, 1581821476

Reprint of the first three series of Scott's Tales of a Grandfather (1827-29), dealing with Scottish history up to the 1745 Rebellion. A brief introduction argues that by 1827, Scott had become the 'world spokesman for all things Celtic', and was single-handedly responsible for reviving Scottish national pride. The volumes include a tabular chronology of the monarchs of Scotland and Scott's own notes to the text.

The Talisman, ed. J. B. Ellis, J. H. Alexander, P. D. Garside, and David Hewitt (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009) xvi, 440 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 18b. ISBN: 9780748605828

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note explores the novel's setting in Palestine during the Third Crusade (1189–92) and shows how Scott constructs a story of chivalric action, apparently adopting a medieval romance view of the similarities in the values of both sides. But disguise is the leading theme of The Talisman: it is not just that characters frequently wear clothing that conceals their identity, but that professions and cultures hide their true nature. In this novel the Christian leaders are divided by a factious criminality, and are contrasted to the magnanimity and decisiveness of Saladin, the leader of the Muslim armies. In a period when the West was fascinated with the exotic East, Scott represents the Muslim other as more humane than the Christian West. The Talisman (the second of Scott's Tales of the Crusaders) is one of Scott's great novels. It is also a bold departure as, for the first time, Scott explores not cultural conflict within a country or society but in the opposition of two world religions.

Two Stories (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2001) 144 p. Canongate Pocket Classics. ISBN: 1841951609

Contains 'Wandering Willie's Tale' from Redgauntlet (1824) and 'The Two Drovers' from Chronicles of the Canongate (1827).

Waverley, ed. Peter Garside (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007) xvi, 641 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 1. ISBN: 9780748605675

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. The historical note shows how Edward Waverley in his journey into Scotland, down to Derby, and back up again, explores the cultural and political geography of Great Britain. Although Waverley was Scott's first novel, it appears as one of the last volumes in the Edinburgh Edition, so that the full weight of experience gained from editing Scott's fiction can be brought to understanding his most influential novel. To this edition, P. D. Garside brings new insights and new information, establishing a text significantly different from its predecessors.

Woodstock, ed. Tony Inglis, J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009) 654 p. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, vol. 19. ISBN: 9780748605835

For the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley novels, see the entry on The Abbot above. Woodstock, the editors argue, opens in farce but is one of Scott's darkest novels. It deals with revolution, to Scott the most disturbing of all subjects. Written during the financial crisis which led to his insolvency in January 1826, the novel, Scott feared, 'would not stand the test'. Yet it does: it is set in England in 1651 as Parliamentary forces hunt the fugitive Charles Stewart who days previously had been defeated at Worcester. In the superb portrait of Cromwell we see a self-torturing despot who attempts to be in full control in the name of religion; in the rakish Charles we see a man without self-reflection whose own libertarianism after his restoration to the English throne in 1660 permitted a great burgeoning in scientific enquiry and the arts.

Back to Index of Recent Publications