Physical description

Waverley Novels Vol 40 Woodstock or the Cavalier-2, 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 40 published by Fisher Son & Co (1838) is part of a collected 48 volume set of Sir Walter Scott's works, containing various stories. Vol 40 in the 1838 Fisher edition reprints later entries from the fourth series, as these stories originally appeared in Scott's Magnum Opus 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.
Scott's "Woodstock," or “The Cavalier” is a historical novel originally published in 1826 as the 22nd in the Waverley series.
Volume 40 continues Woodstock, or The Cavalier from Vol 39 in the Fisher Son & Co edition. It picks up the 1651 story line at Woodstock Manor, where disguised Charles II hides amid escalating tension with Cromwell's forces.
The plot continues with Cromwell storming the lodge after suspecting Charles's presence disguised as "Louis Kerneguy", arresting Colonel Everard and searching secret passages haunted by "ghosts". Albert Lee impersonates the king to aid his escape, while Alice guides Charles away; dramatic confrontations ensue with duels, revelations, and Cromwell's rage continuing. As in volume 39 the tale resolves family divisions, loyalty, and supernatural folklore masking political intrigue during the Commonwealth era.
This split-volume format is standard in collected 1830 s editions like Fisher's, reprinting of Scott's 1826 original with revisions.