THE PIRATE. By the Author of "Waverley, Kenilworth," &c. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., 1822. Octavo, three volumes: [i-ii] [i] ii-vii [viii] [1-3] 4-322; [i-ii] [1-3] 4-332; [i-ii] [1-3] 4-346, contemporary three-quarter dark green leather over green paper-covered boards. First edition, first issue, second state. Volume I has a semicolon after the first "Co." in the imprint on the title page; Vol. II, page 17, line 20 has "there" instead of "their." Bibliographically "... the most scrambled production among all of Scott's novels ..." - Todd and Bowden, p. 553. A romance set on and near the southern tip of the main island of Shetland (which Scott visited in 1814), around 1700. Scott's pirate, Captain Cleveland, is loosely based on the career of the pirate John Gow who was executed in 1725. The primitive inhabitants of the Orkney and Shetland Isles are "picturesquely described, with their quaint laws and customs two centuries ago ... Norna of the Fitful-head is one of those semi-supernatural figures like Meg Merrilies and Blind Alice in THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR which show Scott's ingrained romanticism." - Baker, A Descriptive Guide to the Best Fiction British and American (1903), p. 196. Bleiler (1978), p. 176. Garside, Raven and Schöwerling 1822: 68. Todd and Bowden 156Aa. Block, The English Novel 1740-1850, p. 209. Bound without the half title leaves. Edges worn, boards rubbed, else a very good set, internally clean; presents well on shelf. (#132152).
Price: $200.00
No statement of printing.