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.
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.
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]
| Period | Volume Number | Title | First Published | Main setting | Editor | Year of Publication | Pages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1097 | 23a | Count Robert of Paris | 1831 | Constantinople and Scutari (now in Turkey) | J. H. Alexander | 2006 | 365 | |
| 1187–92 | 18a | The Betrothed | 1825 | Wales and Gloucester (England) | J. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander and David Hewitt | 2009 | 278 | |
| 1191 | 18b | The Talisman | 1825 | J. B. Ellis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and P. D. Garside | 2009 | 278 | ||
| 1194 | 08 | Ivanhoe | 1819 | Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire (England) | Graham Tulloch | 1998 | 401 | |
| 1307 | 23b | Castle Dangerous | 1831 | Lanarkshire (Scotland) | J. H. Alexander | 2006 | 190 | |
| 1396-1406 | 21 | St Valentine's Day or The Fair Maid of Perth | 1828 | Perthshire (Scotland) | A. D. Hook and Donald Mackenzie | 1999 | 397 | |
| 1468 | 15 | Quentin Durward | 1823 | Tours and Péronne (France) Liège (Wallonia/Belgium) | J. H. Alexander and G. A. M. Wood | 2001 | 401 | |
| 1474-7 | 22 | Anne of Geierstein or The Maiden of the Mist | 1829 | Switzerland and Eastern France | J. H. Alexander | 2000 | 403 | |
| 1547–57 | 09 | The Monastery | 1820 | Penny Fielding | 2000 | 354 | ||
| 1565 | 24a | The Siege of Malta | 1832 | J. H. Alexander, Graham Tulloch, and Judy King | 2008 (posthumous publication) | 158 | ||
| 1567-8 | 10 | The Abbot | 1820 | Various in Scotland | Christopher Johnson | 2008 | 375 | |
| 1575 | 11 | Kenilworth | 1821 | Berkshire and Warwickshire (England) | J. H. Alexander | 1993 | 392 | |
| 1616–8 | 13 | The Fortunes of Nigel | 1822 | London and Greenwich (England) | Frank Jordan | 2004 | 406 | |
| 1644-5 | 07b | A Legend of Montrose | 1819 | J. H. Alexander | 1993 | 183 | ||
| 1652 | 19 | Woodstock or The Cavalier | 1826 | Tony Inglis with J. H. Alexander, David Hewitt, and Alison Lumsden | 2009 | 417 | ||
| 1658–80 | 14 | Peveril of the Peak | 1822 | Alison Lumsden | 2007 | 495 | ||
| 1679–89 | 04b | The Tale of Old Mortality | 1816 | Southern Scotland | Douglas Mack | 1993 | 353 | |
| 1689 | 12 | The Pirate | 1822 | Alison Lumsden and Mark Weinstein | 2001 | 391 | ||
| 1707 | 04a | The Black Dwarf | 1816 | P. D. Garside | 1993 | 124 | ||
| 1709–11 | 07a | The Bride of Lammermoor | 1819 | East Lothian (Scotland) | J. H. Alexander | 1993 | 269 | |
| 1715–6 | 05 | Rob Roy | 1818 | Northumberland (England), and the environs of Loch Lomond (Scotland) | David Hewitt | 2008 | 343 | |
| 1736 | 06 | The Heart of Midlothian | 1818 | David Hewitt and Alison Lumsden | 2004 | 469 | ||
| 1745–6 | 01 | Waverley or Tis Sixty Years Since | 1814 | Perthshire (Scotland) | P. D. Garside | 2007 | 365 | |
| 1760-5, 1781–2 | 02 | Guy Mannering or The Astrologer | 1815 | Galloway (Scotland) | P. D. Garside | 1999 | 355 | |
| 1766 | 17 | Redgauntlet | 1824 | Southern Scotland, and Cumberland (England) | G. A. M. Wood with David Hewitt | 1997 | 380 | |
| 1760s-1781 | 20 | The Surgeon's Daughter | 1827 | Fife and Edinburgh, (Scotland) and Madras, Srirangapatna, Bangalore, and Mysore (South India) | 2001 | 128 | ||
| 1775 | 20 | The Highland Widow | 1827 | Oban (Scotland) | 2001 | 55 | ||
| 1794 | 03 | The Antiquary | 1816 | North-East Scotland | David Hewitt | 1995 | 356 | |
| 1795 | 20 | The 2 Drovers | 1827 | Doune and Falkirk, (Scotland) and Cumberland (North West England) | 2001 | 22 | ||
| 1800s-20s | 16 | Saint Ronan's Well | 1824 | Southern Scotland | Mark Weinstein | 1995 | 373 | |
| Early 19th century | 24b | Bizarro (unfinished) | 1832 | J. H. Alexander, Graham Tulloch, and Judy King | 2008 (posthumous publication) | 30 | ||
| 18th century | 00 | The 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" | 1811-32 | Various | Graham Tulloch and Judy King | 2009 | 100 | |
| 1829-32 | 25a 25b | Introductions and Notes from the Magnum Opus | 1829-33 | 2012 | 492 776 |