The Abbot

by Walter Scott

Overview

Find Out What Scott Really WroteGoing back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production.The Abbot concludes the fiction begun in T he Monastery. Scott follows the fortunes of young Roland Graeme as he emerges from rural obscurity to become an attendant of Mary Queen of Scots during her captivity in Lochleven Castle. Roland's part in Mary's escape from the Castle is excitingly narrated, and Mary herself is vividly characterised in captivity, in her brief period of freedom, and in her final defeat. Based on the first edition, this new text restores, from Scott's manuscript and from the evidence of early American editions set from proof sheets at different stages, nearly 2000 authorial readings hitherto omitted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781023078214
Publisher:	Anson Street Press
Publication date:	03/28/2025
Pages:	406
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright, and historian who also worked as a judge and legal administrator. Scott’s extensive knowledge of history and his exemplary literary technique earned him a role as a prominent author of the romantic movement and innovator of the historical fiction genre. After rising to fame as a poet, Scott started to venture into prose fiction as well, which solidified his place as a popular and widely-read literary figure, especially in the 19th century. Scott left behind a legacy of innovation, and is praised for his contributions to Scottish culture.

Editorial Reviews

The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary … The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of composition and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously.

The volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the appearance of two more volumes in the new critical Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels … both volumes are truly impressive jobs of scholarly editing, and they are handsomely designed and printed.

From the Publisher

Christopher Johnson, who works in the House of Lords, has produced a magisterial edition of the neglected novel as part of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels … In short, this addition to The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels is remarkable value. Christopher Johnson's edition of The Abbot should be in every library collecting material on the great Sir Walter Scott and on Scottish-English relationships. Highly recommended.

Professor William Baker