Books

London: John Murray, Albermarle Street, 1903-1914.. 8 vols. Large 8vo. (22 x 14 cm). Original publisher's blind-stamped royal-blue cloth, spines lettered in gilt, black-coated endpapers, pages unopened. Engraved portrait-frontispiece and 14 maps, mostly folding, some with partial colour. Generally an extremely fine set. "It is still entitled to be esteemed as the greatest historical work ever written" (Adams, Manual of Historical Literature, 146-7). Vol. I, II, IV and VI are New Impression, 1914. Vol. III, V, VII and VIII are New Impression, 1903.

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.