An Electric Shock of Delight:
Sir Walter Scott and the Waverley Novels

It was 500 years ago that King James IV granted a patent to Andrew Myllar and Walter Chepman to establish a printing press in Edinburgh.

The first fruit of their loom, The Complaint of the Black Night, dates from April 1508. This 500th anniversary is an appropriate moment to highlight Edinburgh 's rich printing and publishing heritage.

The City of Edinburgh's Museums are involved in two shows:

The Writers' Museum, in the Lawnmarket, is staging An Electric Shock of Delight: Sir Walter Scott and the Waverley Novels. The aim of the exhibition is to recover the ‘lost Scott' who was submerged as the great writer became a cultural institution. The exhibition is part of a wider project to complete a critically-edited series of the Waverley Novels just as Scott originally wrote them. To achieve this the exhibition returns to Scott's manuscripts, proofs and first editions.

The publication of Waverley in 1814 marked the emergence of the modern novel in the western world, and the series of novels to which Waverley gave its name was to have a profound influence on great European writers and also permeated every form of art and entertainment in the nineteenth century: 'The impact cannot be underestimated, and yet, until now, the only text available to the general reader has been late revision - the magnum opus edition of 1829-33.

This exhibition celebrates the completion of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels (EEWN), which will be acieved in 2008, the culmination of an exceptional project to produce a complete, critically-edited edition of the Waverley Novels as Scott originally wrote them!

The Edinburgh Edition aims to recover the 'lost' Scott, the Scott which was submerged as the great writer became a cultural institution, and to do so it returns to Scott's manuscripts, proofs and first editions.

The production of the Waverley Novels was a landmark in publishing history and it is fitting that this exhibition also contributes to the celebration of '500 years of Printing in Scotland (1508-2008)'.

Open: Monday to Saturday 10.00 to 17.00
Admission Free

The Writer's Museum
Situated in Lady Stair's House, built in 1622, The Writers' Museum is dedicated to the lives and work of Scotland's great literary figures, in particluar Robert Burns (1759-1796), Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).

The rich collection of portraits, manuscripts and personal exhibits include Burns' writing desk, Scott's chessboard, dining table and the printing press on which his Waverley novels were produced. The Stevenson collection is the most significant in the United Kingdom. Other prominent Scottish writers, including contemporary authors, are featured in the museum's programme of temporary exhibitions.

The courtyard immediately outside The Writers' Museum has been designated as Makers' Court. Here you can find inscriptions commemorating famous Scottish writers, from the 14th century to the present.