The Waverly Novels First Edition Collection.

SCOTT, Sir Walter.

$5,000.00

Item Number: 124020

Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne; And Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London, 1816-1821.

First edition collection of Scott’s Waverly Novels. Octavo, bound in full contemporary cloth with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, the set includes first editions of The Antiquary (1816, 3 volumes, half-titles present); Guy Mannering (1817); Rob Roy (1818, 3 volumes, half-titles); and The Abbot (1820, 3 volumes); Tales of My Landlord (second series: 1818, 4 volumes; third series: 1819, 4 volumes; fourth series: 1832, vol. 1-3); Ivanhoe (1820, 3 volumes); The Monastery (1820, 3 volumes); Kenilworth (1821, 3 volumes, half-titles); Peveril of the Peak (1822, 4 volumes); The Pirate (1822, 3 volumes); Fortunes of Nigel (1822, 3 volumes); Quentin Durward (1823, 3 volumes, half-titles); St. Ronan’s Well (1824, 3 volumes); Redgauntlet (1824, 3 volumes); Tales of the Crusaders (1825, 4 volumes); Chronicles of the Canongate (1827, 2 volumes; second series: 1828, vol. 1-3); and Anne of Geierstein (1829, 3 volumes). In very good conditoin.

A lengthy series of novels by Sir Walter Scott, The Waverley Novels were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe for nearly a century. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the series takes its name from Waverley, the first novel of the series released in 1814. The later books bore the words "by the author of Waverley" on their title pages. "Scott’s influence as a novelist was incalculable; he established the form of the historical novel, and the form of the short story" (Drabble, 879).