Physical description

Waverley Novels Vol 5 The Antiquary-1, Light brown hardcover lettering in black text.
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Publisher: Fisher Son & Co
Date: 1838

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on spine with typed text PAT FIC SCO
Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Library
Front loose end paper has a sticker from Corangamite Regional Library Service

Summary

The subject volume of Waverley Novels Vol 5 published by Fisher Son & Co (1836) is part of a collected 48 volume set of Sir Walter Scott's works, containing various stories.
Vol 5 in the 1836 Fisher edition reprints later entries from the fourth series, as these stories originally appeared in Scott's Magnum Opus collected 48 volume editions, the first from 1816. With the influential “Magnum Opus” editions from 1829–1833 by Robert Cadell, serving as the basis for later reprinted published sets like Fisher's.
The Antiquary is one of Sir Walter Scott’s best known Scottish novels of the set, first published in 1816, and it mixes social comedy, mystery, romance, and historical atmosphere. It centres on Jonathan Oldbuck, an obsessive collector of antiquities, and follows a tangled story involving old family secrets, financial trouble, buried treasure schemes, and questions of identity.
The story is set in late 18th century Scotland, mainly around Fairport and nearby estates, and brings together several linked families.Scott uses the novel to explore the tension between the past and the present, showing how antiquarian obsession can be both comic and revealing. He also deals with inheritance, class, old guilt, false appearances, and the way history shapes personal lives.