Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels

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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.

Contents

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
109723a Count Robert of Paris 1831 Constantinople and Scutari (now in Turkey)J. H. Alexander2006365
1187–9218a The Betrothed 1825Wales and Gloucester (England)J. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander and David Hewitt2009278
119118b The Talisman 1825 The Holy Land J. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and P. D. Garside2009278
119408 Ivanhoe 1819 Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire (England)Graham Tulloch1998401
130723b Castle Dangerous 1831 Lanarkshire (Scotland)J. H. Alexander2006190
1396-140621St Valentine's Day or The Fair Maid of Perth 1828 Perthshire (Scotland)A. D. Hook and Donald Mackenzie1999397
146815 Quentin Durward 1823 Tours and Péronne (France)
Liège (Wallonia/Belgium)
J. H. Alexander and G. A. M. Wood2001401
1474-722 Anne of Geierstein or The Maiden of the Mist1829Switzerland and Eastern FranceJ. H. Alexander2000403
1547–5709 The Monastery 1820 Scottish Borders Penny Fielding2000354
1567-810 The Abbot 1820Various in ScotlandChristopher Johnson2008375
157511 Kenilworth 1821 Berkshire and Warwickshire (England)J. H. Alexander1993392
1616–813 The Fortunes of Nigel 1822 London and Greenwich (England)Frank Jordan2004406
1644-507b A Legend of Montrose 1819 Scottish Highlands J. H. Alexander1993183
1651-219 Woodstock or The Cavalier 1826 Woodstock and Windsor (England)
Brussels, in the Spanish Netherlands
Tony Inglis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and Alison Lumsden2009417
1658–8014 Peveril of the Peak 1822 Derbyshire, the Isle of Man, and London Alison Lumsden2007495
1679–8904bThe Tale of Old Mortality 1816Southern ScotlandDouglas Mack1993353
168912 The Pirate 1822 Shetland and Orkney Alison Lumsden and Mark Weinstein2001391
170704a The Black Dwarf 1816 Scottish Borders P. D. Garside1993124
1709–1107a The Bride of Lammermoor 1819 East Lothian (Scotland)J. H. Alexander1993269
1715–605 Rob Roy 1818 Northumberland (England), and the environs of Loch Lomond (Scotland)David Hewitt2008343
173606 The Heart of Midlothian 1818 Edinburgh and Richmond, London David Hewitt and Alison Lumsden2004469
1745–601 Waverley or 'Tis Sixty Years Since1814 Perthshire (Scotland)P. D. Garside2007365
1760-5, 1781–202 Guy Mannering or The Astrologer1815 Galloway (Scotland)P. D. Garside1999355
176617 Redgauntlet 1824Southern Scotland, and Cumberland (England)G. A. M. Wood with David Hewitt1997380
1760s-178120 The Surgeon's Daughter 1827 Fife and Edinburgh, (Scotland) and Madras, Srirangapatna, Bangalore, and Mysore (South India) Claire Lamont 2001128
177520 The Highland Widow 1827 Oban (Scotland) Claire Lamont 200155
179403 The Antiquary 1816North-East ScotlandDavid Hewitt1995356
179520 The Two Drovers 1827 Doune and Falkirk, (Scotland) and Cumberland (North West England) Claire Lamont 200122
1804-2016 Saint Ronan's Well 1824Southern ScotlandMark Weinstein1995373
18th century24The Shorter Fiction:
1 The Inferno of Altisidora
2 Christopher Corduroy
3 Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals
4 Phantasmagoria
5 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror
6 The Tapestried Chamber
7 The Death of the Laird's Jock
8 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 Lamont 2012492
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.