Books

London: for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776-1788; 1796. 8 volumes. RARE AND ELUSIVE FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF ALL SIX VOLUMES OF THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. FIRST STATE of Volume I with errata uncorrected in the text and notes and with the cancels as called for, X4 (text) and a4 (notes) are so signed. Only 500 copies of the first issue of Volume I are known to have been printed. With the FIRST EDITION of the MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. Engraved portrait after the painting by Joshua Reynolds in Volume I, three large and finely engraved folding maps of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire and Constantinople. With the half-titles to Volumes III-VI of the Decline and Fall. The Miscellaneous Works with a silhouette engraving to Volume I. 4to (280 x 220 mm), in a beautiful binding of full contemporary mottled calf, the covers with borders in gilt, the backs fully gilt with compartments separated by gilt tooled lines and gilt rolled decorative bands. Elaborately…

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.