Books

Edinburgh: James Ballantyne & Co & Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, London, 1814. First edition, first issue. With the three half-titles and the imprint leaves in volumes I-II (the imprint is on the last leaf of text in volume III), and with the usual cancels A4 in volume I and A2 in volume II, and apparently F12 in volume III (here the text is corrected but there is no clear evidence of cancellation. 12mo., a very appealing uncut copy in contemporary half sheep and marbled boards, in a quarter morocco folding slipcase. A little rubbing and one headband slightly chipped, occasional light soiling and a few marginal tears (three neatly mended).||With this romance of the Jacobite rebellion, begun in 1805, laid aside, and then completed within three weeks in 1814, Scott ‘at one blow... established a new literary form’, the historical novel.The Bradley Martin copy.…

The novel 'Waverley' by Walter Scott is regarded as the first historical novel in the English language, blending history with fiction to portray the Jacobite uprising of 1745.