Physical description

Waverley Novels St Ronans Well-1 Vol 33, 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 St Ronans Well-1 Vol 33 published by Fisher Son & Co (1838) is part of a collected 48 volume set of Sir Walter Scott's works, containing various stories. Vol 33 in the 1836 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.

St. Ronan's Well centres on rivalry between half brothers Valentine Bulmer (Earl of Etherington) and Francis Tyrrel, both pursuing Clara Mowbray amid secrets from a sham marriage and inheritance schemes at a fashionable Scottish spa town.
The story is set in the early 19th century at the fictional St. Ronan's spa in the Scottish Borders, the story unfolds across three volumes originally published in 1824. Tyrrel returns to the area, reconnects with Clara (whom he once loved), and clashes with locals like Sir Bingo Binks, while Etherington schemes to wed her for her family name to secure his title. Tensions escalate through duels, gambling debts, and revelations about their past, culminating in tragedy with Clara's death and a fatal confrontation.