The Monastery, Rob Roy, and The Black Dwarf by Sir Walter Scott

Hardcover. Conditon: Very Good. 1901. Thomas Nelson and Sons. Scarce. The New Century Library. Vol XI. Illustrated.

This beautiful small volume (6in x 4.5in) is bound in calf-leather. Gilt top edge and lettering. Light shelf-wear. Beautifully illustrated.

Three of Scott's classic novels in one.

The Monastery: Set on the eve of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, The Monastery is full of supernatural events, theological conflict, and humor. Located in the lawless Scottish Borders, the novel depicts the monastery of Kennaquhair (a thinly disguised Melrose Abbey, whose ruins are still to be seen near Scott's own home at Abbotsford) on the verge of dissolution and the fortunes of two brothers as they respond to a new social and religious order.

Rob Roy: A rousing tale of skulduggery and highway robbery, villainy and nobility, treasonous plots and dramatic escapes—and young love. From London to the North of England to the Scottish Highlands, it follows the unjustly banished young merchant’s son Francis as he strives to out-maneuver the unscrupulous adventurer plotting to destroy him—and allies himself with the cunning, dangerous, and dashing outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor in a heroic effort to regain his rightful place and win the hand of the girl he loves. 

The Black Dwarf: The story is set just after the Union of Scotland and England (1707), in the Liddesdale hills of the Scottish Borders, familiar to Scott from his work collecting ballads for The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The main character is based on David Ritchie, whom Scott met in the autumn of 1797. In the tale, the dwarf is Sir Edward Mauley, a hermit regarded by the locals as being in league with the Devil, who becomes embroiled in a complex tale of love, revenge, betrayal, Jacobite schemes and a threatened forced marriage.