9 Walter Scott first editions are documented on this shelf, from Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since (1814) to Redgauntlet: A Tale of the Eighteenth Century (1824) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Walter Scott title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
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- Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since — 1814 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition, published anonymously (as with all Waverley novels before 1827) in three volumes, an edition of 1,000 copies, issued 7 July 1814 in Edinburgh with the London issue following later that month. Collation includes half-titles and fly-titles in each volume; genuine first-edition sheets show the two cancel leaves recorded in Worthington's bibliography -- leaf a4 (pp. 7-8) in volume one and leaf A2 (pp.…. The Edinburgh (Constable) issue of 7 July 1814 precedes the London (Longman) issue later the same month. Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship of the Waverley novels until 1827. Later one-volume reprints and cheap 'Author's Edition' sets from 1829 onward, beginning with Robert Cadell's 48-volume 'Magnum Opus,' carry Scott's name on the title page and lack the original three-volume half-title and cancel-leaf structure of the 1814 sheets.
- Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer — 1815 · Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and BrownFirst edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley') on 24 February 1815 in an edition of 2,000 copies; the Edinburgh share sold out within a day of publication and was followed within months by separate second and third printings totaling 5,000 further copies. First-edition sets show the original three-volume collation with a half-title present in each volume and top edges left…. The rapid March and May 1815 reprintings, together totaling roughly 5,000 additional copies, are resettings rather than the original type; only sheets from the initial February 1815 print run, identifiable by the volume-two cancel leaf and collation above, constitute the true first edition.
- The Antiquary — 1816 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley and Guy Mannering') and issued in Edinburgh on 4 May 1816, with the London issue following on 8 May. Pagination runs to viii + 336, 348, and 372 pages across the three volumes, and each volume carries its own original half-title as issued. The 6,000-copy first edition reportedly sold out within three weeks, and the novel was said to…. The Edinburgh (Constable) issue of 4 May 1816 precedes the London (Longman) issue of 8 May 1816. A revised second edition followed roughly three months after the first and is not the true first edition; because both appeared within the same year, buyers should confirm the recorded collation and the volume-one cancel leaf described above rather than relying on the title-page date alone to establish precedence.
- Rob Roy — 1818 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition, first issue (Todd & Bowden 112Aa), three volumes dated 1818 on the title page though issued in Edinburgh on 30 December 1817 (the London issue via Longman followed on 13 January 1818). The publisher named on volume one's title page is Archibald Constable, not Blackwood, marking Scott's return to Constable after his immediately preceding novels, the 'Tales of My Landlord' series, had been issued by…. The Edinburgh issue of 30 December 1817 (though title-paged 1818) precedes the London issue of 13 January 1818. Two further printings from the same setting of type followed within the next two weeks, bearing 'Second Edition' (about 2,500 copies, 7 January 1818) and 'Third Edition' (about 2,500 copies, 10 January 1818) on their title pages as a sales device; bibliographers treat these as issues of the first edition rather than as textually revised reprints.
- Ivanhoe: A Romance — 1820 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition, three volumes, issued in Edinburgh on 18 December 1819 though dated 1820 on the title page, in a print run reported at 10,000-12,000 copies; copies reportedly sold out within about two weeks of publication. First-issue points recorded for volume I, per Worthington's bibliography and Todd & Bowden (140Aa), include pagination ending at p. 298 with pp.159-306 misnumbered as 151-298, the word 'Peter'…. Published in Edinburgh on 18 December 1819 and in London on 31 December 1819, though the title page is dated 1820.
- Kenilworth — 1821 · Archibald Constable and Co.; John BallantyneFirst edition (Todd & Bowden 149Aa), three volumes (320, 339, 348 pages plus 4pp advertisements), issued in Edinburgh on 13 January 1821 and in London a week later on 20 January, in a print run of 10,000 copies. Original binding is publisher's boards (recorded in both grey and blue-with-drab-spine variants) with a printed paper spine label. A textual state point distinguishes copies: the true first state reads…. The Edinburgh (Constable) issue of 13 January 1821 precedes the London (Hurst, Robinson) issue of 20 January 1821. A further printing of approximately 2,000 copies followed within about two months of the original 10,000-copy first printing; only that first printing carries the page-119 'Here'/'ere' state distinction described above.
- The Fortunes of Nigel — 1822 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition (Todd & Bowden 157Aa), three volumes, issued simultaneously in Edinburgh and London on 29 May 1822 in a run of 12,000 copies, published anonymously. Half-titles are present in all volumes; volume I carries a 12-page publisher's catalogue dated May 1822, and volume III has six pages of advertisements at the rear. A notable and checkable collation quirk: the advertisement leaves at the back of volume….
- The Pirate — 1822 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition, three volumes (vii+322, 332, 346 pages), issued in Edinburgh on 24 December 1821 though dated 1822 on the title page, with half-titles and second half-titles present in all volumes and a printer's imprint at the foot of each volume's final page. The true first state reads 'their' at the end of line 20 on page 17 of volume II; a corrected second state within the same first edition reads 'there'…. The Edinburgh (Constable) issue of 24 December 1821 precedes the London (Hurst, Robinson) issue of 26 December 1821, though both are dated 1822 on the title page. A second edition issued later in 1822 lacks the half-titles present in the first-edition volumes.
- Redgauntlet: A Tale of the Eighteenth Century — 1824 · Archibald Constable and Co.First edition (Todd & Bowden 178Aa), three volumes (319, 328, 331 pages plus advertisements), issued 14 June 1824, each volume retaining its own title page and fly-title, published anonymously as 'by the author of Waverley.' Two leaves (four pages) of publisher's advertisements appear at the rear of volume III. Original issue was in printed boards backed in brown paper with printed paper spine labels and….
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