Robert Cadell died on January 21st, 1849, after a long career rendered prosperous by this splendid property, and on March 26th, 1851, the novels, poems, prose works, and the “Life” by Lockhart were put up to auction at the London Coffee House by Mr. Hodgson. The sale brought together the largest “trade” gathering that has ever been witnessed; there were publishers from the “Row” and Albemarle Street, booksellers from Ave Maria and Ivy Lanes, and speculators from every corner of the kingdom. The stock had been valued at £10,193 3_s._, a very low figure, and it was announced that this would be sold only with the copyrights, and that the trustees retained the right of bidding. After much disputing as to these restrictions £5000 was offered, and quickly rose by leaps of £500 to £10,500, when Mr. Bohn and the “Row” retired, and the struggle lay between Mr. Virtue and some imaginary bidder, visible only to the eyes of the auctioneer. At £13,500 the copyright was “bought in” making the price, including the stock, £23,693 3_s._ This afforded a wonderful contrast to the former sale at £8500, more especially when we consider that the copyright of the earlier novels had only five or six years more to run. In a few weeks after this it was announced in the _Scotsman_ that the whole of the copyrights were transferred to the hands of another eminent publishing firm in Edinburgh--Messrs. A. and C. Black, who, in conjunction with their friends, Messrs. Richardson Brothers, became the possessors at the price of £27,000. Leaving the Waverley Novels for a time, it will be necessary to bring up the narrative of the career of Mr. Adam Black to the period when he was able to become the owner of the most valuable literary property that has ever existed.