The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels by Walter Scott appeared in thirty volumes between 1993 and 2012. Published by Edinburgh University Press, it was the first complete critical edition of the novels.

History

On 22 June 1983 Archie Turnbull, the Secretary of Edinburgh University Press, announced that his Press Committee had authorised him to investigate the feasibility of undertaking a critical edition of the novels and related fiction of Walter Scott and to welcome expressions of interest.[1]

On 17 February 1984 a group of scholars and other interested parties met at a conference organised by David Daiches, making the decision that (in principle) the new edition should be based on early editions rather than the revised texts in the final 'Magnum' edition of 1829–33, and that David Hewitt of the University of Aberdeen should be Editor-in-Chief.[2] After three years' detailed research the early-text policy was confirmed at a further conference in January 1987, with David Nordloh of the University of Indiana again acting as special advisor.[3]

The novels were published in batches between 1993 and 2009, with the final two volumes (25a and 25b) of Introductions and Notes from the Magnum Opus edition appearing in 2012.

Editorial policy

Almost all earlier editions of the Waverley Novels had been based on the 'Magnum' text prepared by Scott at the end of his life, the only significant exception being Claire Lamont's 1981 edition of Waverley, which took the first edition text as its basis.[4] The Edinburgh Edition followed Lamont in basing their texts on the first editions, citing a wish that readers should experience the novels more as they first appeared, and their recognition that many errors were introduced between first publication and the 'Magnum'.[5] Until Scott's acknowledgment of his authorship of the Waverley Novels in 1827 his manuscripts were copied and the copy sent to the printer, to preserve his anonymity. He relied on intermediaries to convert his rudimentary punctuation into a form suitable for public consumption, but in the process mistakes were made: words were misread, passages were omitted, and the punctuation was sometimes misinterpreted.[6] The Edinburgh Edition therefore emended the first-edition copy text extensively, mainly from the manuscripts, and from author's proofs where they survive. Emendations were not introduced from later editions up to the 'Magnum' except to correct clear persisting errors.[7]

List of Novels and Short Story Collections

PeriodVolume NumberTitleFirst PublishedMain settingEditorYear of PublicationPages
109723aCount Robert of Paris1831Constantinople and Scutari (now in Turkey)J. H. Alexander2006365
1187–9218aThe Betrothed1825Wales, and Gloucester (England)J. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander and David Hewitt2009278
119118bThe Talisman1825The Holy LandJ. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and P. D. Garside2009278
119408Ivanhoe1819Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire (England)Graham Tulloch1998401
130723bCastle Dangerous1831Lanarkshire (Scotland)J. H. Alexander2006190
1396-140621St Valentine's Day or The Fair Maid of Perth1828Perthshire (Scotland)A. D. Hook and Donald Mackenzie1999397
146815Quentin Durward1823Tours and Péronne (France)
Liège (Wallonia/Belgium)
J. H. Alexander and G. A. M. Wood2001401
1474-722Anne of Geierstein or The Maiden of the Mist1829Switzerland and Eastern FranceJ. H. Alexander2000403
1547–5709The Monastery1820Scottish BordersPenny Fielding2000354
1567-810The Abbot1820Various in ScotlandChristopher Johnson2008375
157511Kenilworth1821Berkshire and Warwickshire (England)J. H. Alexander1993392
1616–813The Fortunes of Nigel1822London and Greenwich (England)Frank Jordan2004406
1644-507bA Legend of Montrose1819Scottish HighlandsJ. H. Alexander1993183
165219Woodstock or The Cavalier1826Woodstock and Windsor (England)
Brussels, in the Spanish Netherlands
Tony Inglis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and Alison Lumsden2009417
1658–8014Peveril of the Peak1822Derbyshire, the Isle of Man, and LondonAlison Lumsden2007495
1679–8904bThe Tale of Old Mortality1816Southern ScotlandDouglas Mack1993353
168912The Pirate1822Shetland and OrkneyAlison Lumsden and Mark Weinstein2001391
170704aThe Black Dwarf1816Scottish BordersP. D. Garside1993124
1709–1107aThe Bride of Lammermoor1819East Lothian (Scotland)J. H. Alexander1993269
1715–605Rob Roy1818Northumberland (England), and the environs of Loch Lomond (Scotland)David Hewitt2008343
173606The Heart of Midlothian1818Edinburgh and Richmond, LondonDavid Hewitt and Alison Lumsden2004469
1745–601Waverley or 'Tis Sixty Years Since1814Perthshire (Scotland)P. D. Garside2007365
1760-5, 1781–202Guy Mannering or The Astrologer1815Galloway (Scotland)P. D. Garside1999355
176617Redgauntlet1824Southern Scotland, and Cumberland (England)G. A. M. Wood with David Hewitt1997380
1760s-178120The Surgeon's Daughter1827Fife and Edinburgh, (Scotland) and Madras, Srirangapatna, Bangalore, and Mysore (South India)Claire Lamont2001128
177520The Highland Widow1827Oban (Scotland)Claire Lamont200155
179403The Antiquary1816North-East ScotlandDavid Hewitt1995356
179520The 2 Drovers1827Doune and Falkirk, (Scotland) and Cumberland (North West England)Claire Lamont200122
1800s-20s16Saint Ronan's Well1824Southern ScotlandMark Weinstein1995373
18th century24The Shorter Fiction:
The Inferno of Altisidora
Christopher Corduroy
Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals
Phantasmagoria
My Aunt Margaret's Mirror
The Tapestried Chamber
Death of the Laird's Jock
"A Highland Anecdote"
1811-32VariousGraham Tulloch and Judy King2009100
1829-3225a
25b
Introductions and Notes from the Magnum Opus1829-33J. H. Alexander with P. D. Garside and Claire Lamont2012492
776

References

  1. The full history of the Edition can be traced in a series of eight articles in The Scott Newsletter: [J. H. Alexander and David Hewitt,] 'Waverley Novels Feasibility Study: Edinburgh University Press', 2 (Summer 1983), [2]; J. H. Alexander, 'The Waverley Novels Project: 17 February 1984', 4 (Spring 1984), [2]‒11; David Hewitt, 'The New Edition of the Waverley Novels', 8 (Spring 1986), 17‒18; David Hewitt, 'The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels: The Transmission of the Texts', 10 (Spring 1987), 11‒16; David Hewitt, 'The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels: A Progress Report', 18 (Summer 1991), 12‒14; J. H. Alexander, 'The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels: An Informal Chronicle', 21/22 (Winter 1992/Summer 1993), 3‒10; David Hewitt, 'The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels: Nearly Half-Way', 32 (Summer 1998), 2‒5; and J. H. Alexander, 'Editing The Bride of Lammermoor and A Legend of the Wars of Montrose ', ibid, 6‒12.
  2. The Scott Newsletter, 4 (Spring 1984), 5, 9.
  3. The Scott Newsletter, 21/22 (Winter 1992 / Summer 1993), 6–7.
  4. Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, ed. Claire Lamont (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981).
  5. The Scott Newsletter, 21/22 (Winter 1992 / Summer 1993), 7; David Hewitt, 'General Introduction', Walter Scott, The Black Dwarf, ed. P. D. Garside (Edinburgh, 1993),xi–xii.
  6. The Scott Newsletter, 10 (Spring 1987), [11]–12; David Hewitt, 'General Introduction', Walter Scott, Guy Mannering, ed. P. D. Garside (Edinburgh, 1999), xii–xiv.
  7. See e.g. Walter Scott, The Black Dwarf, ed. P. D. Garside (Edinburgh, 1993), 172–73.
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