The Waverly Novels (28 Novels in 12 Volumes)
by Sir Walter Scott

1862-1867 Adam and Charles Black (Edinburgh, Scotland), 12 4 3/8 x 6 3/4 inches tall quarter leather bound, marbled paper-covered boards over red leather spine and tips, five raised bands and gilt tooling/lettering to spines, all page edges marbled, extra engraved title page preceding each title page, [v.1] xxxix, 332, xii, 313; [v.2] ix, 312, xlviii, 298; [v.3] x, 323, xvi, 265, ix, 235; [v.4] vi, 421, xvi, 347; [v.5] xxxii, 288, viii, 333; [v.6] viii, 348, vi, 377; [v.7] xviii, 334, xxxii, 452; [v.8] xxii, 338, 328; [v.9] 344, xvi, 368; [v.10] x, 317, xxxi, 357; [v.11] xiii, 346, x, 357; [v.12] xvi, 292, vi, 325 pp. (8,743 pages total.) Slight to moderate soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers, with chipping to the upper spine cap of Volume 7. Stain to front pastedown of each volume, presumably where a bookplate was removed. Otherwise, apart from expected age toning, a very good set - clean and unmarked. 

A 12-volume circa 1867 issue of 28 of the Waverly Novels, a long series of novels by Scottish historian, novelist, poet, and playwright Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, the Waverly Novels were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the series takes its name from Waverley, the first novel of the series, released in 1814. The later books bore the words 'by the author of Waverley' on their title pages. 

'Scott's influence as a novelist was incalculable; he established the form of the historical novel, and, according to V.S. Pritchett, the form of the short story. He was avidly read and imitated throughout the 19th century, not only by historical novelists such as Ainsworth and Bulwer-Lytton, but also by writers like Mrs. Gaskell, G. Eliot, the Brontes, and many others, who treated rural themes, contemporary peasant life, regional speech, etc., in a manner that owed much to Scott.' - Oxford Companion to English Literature. 

Titles (in the order from this set): 
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet FRSE FSAScot (1771-1832), was a Scottish historian, novelist, poet, and playwright. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature.

As an advocate, judge, and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory establishment, active in the Highland Society, long time a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1827–1829). His knowledge of history and literary facility equipped him to establish the historical novel genre as an exemplar of European Romanticism. He became a baronet of Abbotsford in the County of Roxburgh, Scotland, on 22 April 1820; the title became extinct upon his son's death in 1847.