Book Overview
The Antiquary, Scott's personal favorite among his novels, is characteristically wry and urbane. A mysterious young man calling himself 'Lovel' travels idly but fatefully toward the Scottish seaside town of Fairport. Here he is befriended by the antiquary Jonathan Oldbuck, who has taken refuge from his own personal disappointments in the obsessive study of miscellaneous history. Their slow unraveling of Lovel's true identity will unearth and redeem the secrets and lies which have devastated the guilt-haunted Earl of Glenallan, and will reinstate the tottering fortunes of Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter Isabella.
First published in 1816 in the aftermath of Waterloo, The Antiquary deals with the problem of how to understand the past so as to enable the future. Set in the tense times of the wars with revolutionary France, it displays Scott's matchless skill at painting the social panorama and in creating vivid characters, from the earthy beggar Edie Ochiltree to the loquacious and shrewdly humorous Antiquary himself.
The text is based on Scott's own final, authorized version, the "Magnum Opus" edition of 1829. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
First published in 1816 in the aftermath of Waterloo, The Antiquary deals with the problem of how to understand the past so as to enable the future. Set in the tense times of the wars with revolutionary France, it displays Scott's matchless skill at painting the social panorama and in creating vivid characters, from the earthy beggar Edie Ochiltree to the loquacious and shrewdly humorous Antiquary himself.
The text is based on Scott's own final, authorized version, the "Magnum Opus" edition of 1829. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0199555710
ISBN13:9780199555710
Release Date:July 2009
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Length:528 Pages
Weight:0.84 lbs.
Dimensions:1.4" x 5.1" x 7.6"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Book Review by a Scots/American
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
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!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
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
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
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.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
