The Antiquary -- Walter Scott

<em>The Antiquary</em>, 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<br>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<br>Wardour and his daughter Isabella.<br>First published in 1816 in the aftermath of Waterloo, <em>The Antiquary</em> 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<br>characters, from the earthy beggar Edie Ochiltree to the loquacious and shrewdly humorous Antiquary himself.<br>The text is based on Scott's own final, authorized version, the Magnum Opus edition of 1829. <p/><strong>About the Series: </strong> For over 100 years <strong>Oxford World's Classics</strong> 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<b