Books

engraved frontispiece portrait to first volume, this with light waterstain at foot and foxed, folded maps, occasional small spots, one volume with a small amount of marginal marking in pencil at rear of volume, pp. xxxii, 415; x, 425; viii, 433; viii, 410; viii, 415; viii, 428; x, 412; ix, 434, 8vo, nineteenth-century half calf, brown cloth sides, the backstrip gilt in compartments between five raised bands, leather lettering pieces, the extremities rubbed a little with occasional wear, sprinkled edges, each volume with the bookplate of Clement Attlee, very good. The set of Prime Minister Clement Attlee, with his striking bookplate to each volume (including upside down to the rear endpaper of Vol. VI). In his reading memoir, 'The Pleasure of Books', in the National and English Review in 1954, Attlee refers to this 'handsome set' of Gibbon 'recently inherited' - that is (he clarifies), waiting for him at Chequers when Prime Minister (he had until that point 'never read Gibbon right through'), where the previous resident had been Winston Churchill. Churchill's great enthusiasm for Gibbon as a historian is well-known. This additional provenance, intriguing as it is, does not seem to have a direct bearing on the pencilled notes to the rear endpapers or blanks in vols III, IV (which also has a few at close of text), VII, & VIII: these identify themes ('The Varangian Guard', 'Scotland', 'Public worship', 'Saints and Christian polytheism') alongside their relevant page numbers, and are a little too sparse to confidently attribute - but we know that Attlee read and enjoyed this set, and the likelihood of Churchill having done so, though he had 'devoured' Gibbon much earlier, is strong.

Published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, this extensive work by Edward Gibbon provides a detailed history of the decline of the Roman Empire.