Robert Cadell
Robert Cadell (16 December 1788 – 20 January 1849) was a
Life
He was born at
of Cockenzie, and Marie Buchan, his wife.Cadell's career began as a
When Constable's London agents Hurst Robinson went
Scott and Cadell purchased the copyright to Scott's novels and produced a new edition of the Waverley novels including new material penned by Scott. The work to create this ‘author's edition’ commenced in 1827 and was highly successful, in part perhaps because of the illustrations executed for it by J. M. W. Turner.
Cadell took care of Scott in the writer's last years, profiting handsomely from arrangements made with Scott's family after his death such that they were absolved from debt in return for Cadell's exclusive right to republish Scott's novels and biographical material. On Scott's death, Cadell paid £30,000 for Scott's share of the copyright on Scott's work, thereafter owning it outright.[1] Cadell's wealth enabled him to acquire considerable land and personal property, including Ratho House, in Midlothian.
Cadell died at Ratho on 20 January 1849[2] and is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in central Edinburgh.[3] The grave stands at the head of one of the western lines in the western extension.
Family
He first married Elizabeth Constable, daughter of his employer Archibald Constable. She died in 1818.
He was then married to Anne Fletcher Mylne (1796–1867).
They had a son John in 1826 who only lived for 6 weeks. Their daughter Emily (1821–1832) also died young.
His daughter Frances married Rev Robert Horne Stevenson.
References
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- 'Litera scripta manet': George Huntly Gordon and the Abbotsford Library Catalogue (Oxford Journals)