Books

First state of volume 1 (with all errata uncorrected and cancels as called for). 6 volumes, quarto (271 x 216 mm, but vol one 264 x 213 mm). Modern full speckled calf to style. Five raised bands with red and blue morocco spine labels. Plain end papers. Each volume with the book label of Dr. Sydney Ross (1915-2013), professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Engraved portrait frontispiece by Hall after Joshua Reynolds (dated 1 February 1780) bound into volume 2, as issued; 2 engraved maps in vol. 2; 1 engraved map in vol. 3 (Western map bound into Vol 2 and Eastern map bound into Vol 3). Complete with all half titles. Bindings in excellent condition overall. Each volume housed in a full speckled calf clamshell box. With the cancel leaves and uncorrected errata as called for by Norton: vol. 1 with cancels X4 and a4 (so signed), errata leaf uncorrected and bound at the beginning (leaves a and a2 bound out of order in the Notes), with the 2 leaves of advertisements at the end; vol. 2 with cancels G1 and Ll1, errata leaf; vol. 3 with p. 177 correctly numbered, p. 179 line 18 with uncorrected spelling of "Honorious", errata leaf; vol. 4 with cancels H3 and L2; vol. 6 with errata for vols. 4-6 on 4Uv. Various levels of foxing throughout, generally light to moderate, a some leaves heavier. Early owner's name on the title page to volume one, Robert Nicholson. A modern reader (possibly Dr. Ross) has made extensive marginal notations in pencil in volumes 4-6 as he engaged with the text. All bindings uniform in size, but the text block to vol. 1 a bit shorter than the other volumes. Clearly a set that was made up at the time of rebinding. "This masterpiece of historical penetration and literary style has remained one of the ageless historical works that maintain their hold on the layman and continue to stimulate the scholar. Gibbon brought a width of vision and a critical mastery of the available sources that have not been equalled to this day" (PMM). Scholars continue to discuss how Gibbon participates in eighteenth-century trends of genre blurring and bending, using paradigms of the romance novel alongside emerging modern scholarship to create a fascinating and readable history. Others note how "Gibbon's work occupies a peculiar position in the political and economic climate of the late eighteenth century because of its subject matter. The majority of the political structures considered in the Decline and Fall are absolutist monarchies dominated by the figure of the sacred king" – a major contrast to the rise of democracies and the calls for economic mobility being made across Europe and the U.S. (Cosgrove). An epic history in an incredibly addictive form. Grolier English 58; Norton 20, 23, 29; Printing and the Mind of Man 222; Rothschild 942.

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.