The Waverley Novels: The Antiquary

By Sir Walter Scott and Bart Sir Walter Scott

Book Overview

This is one of the most popular novels by Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the late 18th century. It tells the story of an amateur historian, Oldbuck, who becomes involved in various adventures while trying to authenticate some ancient relics. This novel is known for its vivid characters, humorous episodes, and rich depiction of Scottish history and culture. A must-read for fans of historical fiction and Scottish literature.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1019791500
• ISBN13: 9781019791509
• Release Date: July 2023
• Publisher: Legare Street Press
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Book Review by a Scots/American

Readers; It is good to see Sir W.Scott back amoung the shelves. The creator of modern Scots culture and literature, is at last seen in America. This is a good book to start you first reading of this writer of the highest order. Happy Reading, buy a copy, and then some others

Unco Guid!

This book is rare fun indeed!--Aside from the rather pat basic plot---But what do you expect when you open one of Sir Walter's Romances? ---the Oxford edition, supplied with Scott's own glossary of unco Scottish terms and the ever helpful Oxford notes offers enjoyment and delight at every turn. I say a Romance, and that IS the basic plot structure here, but it's the Comedy that will catch most readers, I trow: Particularly, the comedy in the learned dissertations and piquant observations of the eponymous antiquary, Mr. Oldbuck, but perhaps even more so in the canny phrasings of the itinerant "Bedesman" or "gaberlunzie" Edie Ochiltree. The most wonderful character though is the Scottish dialect itself. I find myself, after reading this book that Scott loved above all his others, thinking and almost talking in the musical cadences and turns of phrase interlarded throughout the book Perhaps, as the academics say, this is a book that deals with "the problem of how to understand the past so as to enable the future." - Enable the future? - In any event, don't miss out on these truly lovely narrative annals of times lang syne. And beware the "phoca"!

A very funny novel, beautifully presented at last

Before OUP World's Classics published this handsome, attractive new edition, you could only get this novel in paperback through Penguin. The Penguin edition, sadly, gives the book in a tinkered-with text that Scott never saw, and supplies it with a baffling and unhelpful introduction by some academic called Punter that he wouldn't have understood a word of. This was a crying shame, as The Antiquary is Scott's funniest, most mature book and amply deserves the loving treatment OUP have now given it. The introduction and notes to this new amazingly inexpensive paperback are clear, intelligent & actually intended to help someone enjoy a very subtle and profound piece of storytelling - well done to this N Watson (a good Scots name, promisingly!). The book itself, as I say, is hilarious and surprisingly moving, as good on personal emotion and behaviour as Austen but with the gift for big-scale action and comedy of Dickens or Thackeray -- the bit with the fight with the seal just goes on getting funnier.