Small 8vos (17 x 10 cm). 234 + 245 + 241 pp. Contemp. full calf with painted design and gilt decor to spine. The title label at spine is misspelt “Roman’s well”. Beautiful gilt tooling on dentelles and delicately marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Outer joints and edges of boards rubbed. A very good set.
Kommentar: Part of the Waverly novels, Scott did not publicly claim authorship of the Waverly series until 1827. This edition, published in Paris came out the same year as the first edition, published in Edinburgh and London. John Anthony and William Galignani had taken over the publishing house after their father Giovanni Antonio Galignani’s death in 1821. The older Galignani was the leading publisher of English translations at the time and his sons broadened the business to include English works in the original language. They were part of the trade of pirating new, English publications and selling them at a quarter of the price of the legitimate copies. Because there was no copyright agreement in place between England and France, this was not technically illegal, but Scott himself called Galignani a “pirate” on several occasions.
