Tales of My Landlord

Series · 4 books · 1816-1832

By Walter Scott

Books in series

The Heart of Mid-Lothian

1818

Early in 1817 Scott received in an unsigned letter the seed of The Heart of Mid-Lothian and began immediately to shape from historical fact the story of Jeanie Deans, a dairymaid who, while refusing to lie to save her sister’s life, journeys to London to beg for a reprieve. Set in the 1730s in a Scotland uneasily united with England, the novel dramatizes different kinds of justice: that meted out by the Edinburgh mob in the lynching of one Captain Porteous, and that encountered by a young girl on trial for infanticide. A bestseller from Philadelphia to St. Petersburg, an inspiration to succeeding novelists from Balzac to George Eliot, The Heart of Mid-Lothian is the seventh and finest of Scott’s ‘Waverley’ novels. This edition, based on the first edition of 1818, incorporates many new corrections from the manuscript and from other sources. Tony Inglis provides a full introduction to the historical background, and to the novel’s rich use of language and dialect, its themes and narrative modes.

The Tale of Old Mortality

1816

Drawn from Scott's original text, the first authoritative edition of his classic historical romance. Set in 1679 during the Scottish populist rebellion known as the Covenanter uprising, The Tale of Old Mortality is one of the outstanding historical fictions of the nineteenth century. Henry Morton of Milnewood is compelled to take up arms against the royalists, who are led by Claverhouse, a true villain in Scottish history who is, nonetheless, one of Scott's most complex characters. A moderate Covenanter, Morton—whose loyalties are divided by his love for Edith, the beautiful granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden—is one of the "people's heroes" who challenge King Charles II and change the course of Scottish history. Old Mortality is Scott's undisputed masterpiece and distills the humor, grit, and romance of the west of Scotland, past and present. Edited with an Introduction by Douglas S. Mack This Penguin Classics edition is based on the acclaimed Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels

Count Robert of Paris

The Works of Sir Walter Scott

1832

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Castle Dangerous

1832

The story is set in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire around 1306, shortly after the death of William Wallace during the Wars of Scottish Independence. From Scott's introduction: "The incidents on which the ensuing Novel mainly turns, are derived from the ancient Metrical Chronicle of The Bruce, by Archdeacon Barbour, and from the History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, by David Hume of Godscroft; and are sustained by the immemorial tradition of the western parts of Scotland. They are so much in consonance with the spirit and manners of the troubled age to which they are referred, that I can see no reason for doubting their being founded in fact; the names, indeed, of numberless localities in the vicinity of Douglas Castle, appear to attest, beyond suspicion, many even of the smallest circumstances embraced in the story of Godscroft."

Author

Walter Scott

Author · 70 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. British writer Sir Walter Scott popularized and refined a genre of ballads and historical novels; his works include Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819). Sir Walter Alva Scott created and called a series. Scott arranged the plots and characters so that the reader enters into the lives of great and ordinary persons, caught in violent, dramatic changes. Work of Scott shows the influence of the 18th century Enlightenment. He thought of every basically decent human, regardless of class, religion, politics, or ancestry. A major theme tolerates. They express his theory in the need for social progress that rejects not the traditions of the past. He first portrayed peasant characters sympathetically and realistically and equally justly portrayed merchants, soldiers, and even kings. In central themes, cultures conflict and oppose. Normans and Saxons warred. In The Talisman (1825), Christians and Muslims conflict. He deals with clashes between the new English and the old Scottish culture. Other great include Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Midlothian (1819), and Saint Ronan's Well (1824). His series includes Rob Roy (1817), A Legend of Montrose (1819), and Quentin Durward (1823). Amiability, generosity, and modesty made Scott popular with his contemporaries. He also famously entertained on a grand scale at Abbotsford, his Scottish estate.