WAVERLEY NOVELS

48 volumes, complete and extended. An early printing of the complete collection, and a set with fine provenance, having belonged to Henry Lee of Boston. With engraved frontispiece and vignette title page in each volume and a profusion of engravings throughout the text. It contains, with a few exceptions, all the woodcuts that appeared in the Abbotsford Edition, besides the steel plates belonging to the original edition in forty-eight volumes as here. Sir Walter Scott took great pleasure in forming a museum at Abbotsford of the antiquities which illustrated the historical events and personages recorded in his writings. Small 8vo, contemporary three-quarter dark-green crushed morocco over marbled paper covered boards, the spines with raised bands gilt ruled and stopped, the compartments richly gilt with elaborate tooling filling the panels, two compartments lettered in gilt, marbled edges, marbled end-leaves. A handsome set in pleasing condition, a small number of volumes with a bit of light rubbing, a bit of wear here or there often not very noticeable, a nice set in fine bindings gilt.

Edizione: a handsome and pleasing set complete. sir walter scott remains one of scotland's greatest men of letters. his influence was as far reaching as his works were commercially successful. his poetry earned him an offer of the laureateship, which he refused, and was considered quite original in style among the romantics.<br> scott is best remembered however for his novels which were highly popular in his time and which were extremely influential to both his contemporaries and his literary posterity. he is generally accredited with establishing the form of the historical novel and, according to v.s. pritchett, the modern short story. his works were as avidly imitated as they were read and his influence is especially recognizable in the works of ainsworth and bulwer-lytton.<br> this is a beautiful collection of all of scott's great novels. including of course such classics as "waverly", "rob roy" and "ivanhoe". the tasteful, handsome bindings are quite pleasing and the set is complete, and thus, a rarity.<br> concerning the provenance, the collection belonged to henry lee of boston, a member of one of the most important and founding families of massachusetts and the early nation. the lee family was engaged in early mercantile capitalism in america and was an important figure in its development. the family showed remarkable powers of adaptation to successive forms of capitalism, mercantile, industrial, and financial; and, as opportunity served, they were to do more than their share in promoting the cultural welfare of america.<br> of the broad pictures that emerge, is the commercial family compact, the set of families that intermarried and did business with the world, using one another in special positions of trust. the records and documents produced within the pages of the two volumes show nothing more was involved than the confidence that kinsmen feel in one another. and the lines within the letters and documents indicate that ability was not a guaranteed accompaniment of honour and exertion.<br> the lees exported and imported and wholesaled their goods in america. they had ships at sea and were active in the calcutta trade and the east indian affairs. it is henry lee's bookplate that is affixed here.