Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., A New Edition. in Nine Volumes.

The Household Edition, complete in nine volumes, released in conjunction with the publication of the Illustrated Household Edition of Scott's Waverley Novels, with a new biographical sketch of Lockhart, a chronological list of the publications of Sir Walter Scott (which includes formats and numbers of volumes), and an exhaustive index (nearly 60 pages). xxx, [31]-318; vi, [7]-329; vii, [1], [7]-310; vii, [8]-328, [1]; vii, [8]-312; vii, [8]-339; viii, [9]-324; vii, [8]-316; vii, [8]-340 pp. Purple cloth, gilt titles and decorations, engraved title pages with illustrations precede printed title in each volume. The first volume bears a new dedication for this edition, from the publishers to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Lockhart's famous biography of his father-in-law, the author of the famous Waverley Novels. Notable for its inclusion of many previously unpublished letters. "From its publication it has been regarded, along with Boswell's Life of Johnson, as one of the most important works in the history of biography. In preparing the life of Scott, Lockhart collected personal anecdotes and letters from many of Scott's friends and acquaintances and added to them his own intimate knowledge of the man and his works to portray with the power of a successful novelist a character in vivid scenes of place and time. Though modern criticism has pointed out inaccuracies in Lockhart's details and considered his portrait of Scott idealized it is clear none the less that he attempted to present the near heroic regard in which Scott was held in his time." (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)