ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the technological, economic, and logistical challenges involved in the innovative publishing projects that Constable and Cadell initiated in Edinburgh between 1819 and 1833. Scott's complicity in the mechanics of mass-media was an essential factor in the success of the illustrated editions, and the illustrations themselves with the buying public. Scott's and Constable's, particularly Constable's, initial efforts to illustrate the Waverley novels were obstructed by a perceived lack of reliable engraving resources in Edinburgh, a fact which raised logistical obstacles. In 1820 Constable had to deal with high fees for artists and engravers, slow production, and soft copper-plates which would only produce a limited number of impressions before being worn down. For Constable, the weak link is the engraving process and having to pass plates and proofs backwards and forwards between the artist and the engraver in Edinburgh and London respectively.
