Rob Roy

This acclaimed series presents the well-known story of the ‘Robin Hood of Scotland’ Although Rob Roy is set in 1715-16, it does not concern the Jacobite Rising but rather the economic and social conditions which gave rise to it. It celebrates the freebooting capitalism of the hero’s father in the City of London, and the actual freebooting of Rob Roy, ‘the Robin Hood of Scotland, the dread of the wealthy, but the friend of the poor’. And through Baillie Nicol Jarvie, one of Scott’s most lively creations, it explores the delicate balance of generosity and selfish calculation that is required in all successful enterprise. The first of Scott’s Waverley novels burst upon an astonished world in 1814. Its publication marked the emergence of the modern novel in the western world, influencing all the great nineteenth-century writers. This handsome new edition of Sir Walter Scott’s novels captures the original power and freshness of his best-loved novels. Going 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.