Books

6 volumes. Printed for A. Strahan ; and . Cadell, In The Strand, London 1782,1787, 1787, 1788,1788, 1788. Frontespiece portrait+ (20)+ 704 pages + 2 foldable maps ['The Eastern Part' and 'The Western Part'; the latter with a couple of small holes to the Baltic Sea]; (12)+640 + small foldable map of Constantinoble; (12)+640; (4)+VIII+(8)+620; (12)+684); (14)+646+(52) pages. Bound in contemporary half calf bindings; spines professionally rebacked. Side paper a bit rubbed, and with a bit of edgewear here and there. The interior is nice and clean, with only occasional and scarce foxing here and there. The half titles are present. Names to the flyleaves ['Robert Stephens'] Bookplates inserted ['Darell/ Trewornan, Cornwall']. Nice, tight set, that appears unread. * Printing and the Mind of Man 222. Volume 1-3 later printings ['New Edition'], vol. 4-6 first editions. A set brought together from various print runs is by no means uncommon: The first print run of volume I of 500 copies was doubled by Strahan upon reading the manuscript - and even the 1000 copies were sold out in two weeks. Full first edition sets are scarce and very expensive.** One of the milestones of historical writing. Gibbon has inspired and enlightened numerous generations on antiquity and the Middle Ages [the work covers the time from the Death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453], and even though many of his ideas and chronologies have later been rebuked, the majestic and ground breaking work is still in print and read today.

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.