“NEXT TO BOSWELL’S JOHNSON, THE BEST IN THE LANGUAGE”

LOCKHART, John Gibson. Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853. Ten volumes. Small octavo, contemporary full crimson calf, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, green morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $1750.

Beautifully bound Edinburgh edition of Lockhart’s classic biography of Scott, with portrait frontispieces and additional engraved pictorial title pages in each volume.

John Lockhart was Scott's son-in-law and resided on his estate for many years. "His greatest book was The Life of Scott… He had admirable materials in Scott's letters and journals, but he turned them to such account that the biography may safely be described as, next to Boswell's Johnson, the best in the language" (DNB). Includes a fragment of Scott's autobiography, "composed by him in 1808… and discovered in an old cabinet at Abbotsford." First published in 1837. Armorial bookplate.

Some dampstaining to first few leaves of some volumes, bindings fine. A beautifully bound set.