Sir Walter Scott's first novel, Waverley enjoyed tremendous popularity upon its first publication. The novel is set during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, which sought to restore Charles Edward Stuart to the British throne. It portrays the doomed rising from the perspective of the hero, Edward Waverley, who travels to Scotland and is drawn to the Jacobite cause by a clan chieftain, his beautiful sister, and Charles Edward Stuart himself.

Appendices to this edition include material on the Jacobite Rebellion and related conflicts, Scottish folklore, and a broad selection of contemporary reviews of Waverley.