Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1882. Hardcover. Very good. Despite its title, the Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott is not a "memoir" as we think of the term today. Instead, it is a biography of the great writer written by his son-in-law, John Gibson Lockhart, himself a respected man of letters in his own right. It was first published in seven volumes between 1837 and 1838 and then in a second ten-volume edition in 1839. It is notable for including many of Scott's own letters, and created something of a scandal when it was first published by detailing Scott's business transactions with his two publishers, both of which went bankrupt. Still, the Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott is considered by many to be one of the great works of biography written in English, comparable to Boswell's Life of Johnson. Our copy was published in 1882, in ten volumes like Lockhart's second edition. The volumes are half-bound in dark green leather with marbled paper boards; the same marbling extends to the end papers and to the edges of the pages. The spines are decorated with artificial bands highlighted with gold tooling; gilt thistles and other gilt decoration is stamped into the sections. The title and the volume number is also stamped in gold on the spine. Gilt tooling borders the leather on front and back covers. The title page of each volume features delightful decorative, multi-colored lettering. There are two facing pages of engravings on the pages before the title pages, each unique to the volume, usually featuring a portrait of Scott or a family member and a scene relevant to his life; the tissue paper separating the engravings survives in some volumes. There is some light foxing and a tiny amount of edge staining in the first few pages of many volumes, but otherwise there are no marks and the pages are remarkable bright and the binding is quite tight, with no damage to either interior or exterior hinges. The covers and edges show only light shelfwear, much less than might be expected for books of this age. The one exception is the back cover of volume one, which is definitely sun bleached in comparison with the rest of the covers of the set. Altogether, though, this is a delightful set of books, comfortable and sturdy to hold in the hand and read and lovely to look at on the shelf.

Bound by Sotheran and Co., per printing on bottom of front loose endpaper.