[Rarebooks] fa: EDWARD GIBBON - DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - 6 Quarto Vols. 1777-88

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 12. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/ybbt4dbo

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


"The most magnificent single historical work in the English tongue." (Kunitz & Haycraft)

"Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr Gibbon?" (the Duke of Gloucester)

Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1777-1788. Six volumes, 4to (29 cm), in early full calf. Third edition of volume I, first editions of volumes II-VI. Half-titles in vols. IV-VI; engraved portrait frontispiece in vol. I and three engraved  folding maps in vols. II, III (complete). ESTC T78358, T78365; PMM 222.

An uncommonly early set of Gibbon's monumental work, all the volumes being first editions except for volume I, which was published only one year after the first edition and contains a preface unique to the third edition, not found in earlier or subsequent printings. This is the original, large-format (4to) edition, not to be confused with the smaller (8vo) edition issued in twelve volumes from 1783-90. Bindings well worn and rubbed; joints/hinges cracked with three boards detached, two others held by the cords; vol. VI lacking the first leaf of the contents; front paste-downs of vols. I-III with the engraved 18th-century armorial bookplates of John Osborne, Esqr., vols. IV-VI with the ink stamp of Westminster Library on the title-pages (no other library marks); else unusually clean and fresh with just some very occasional light toning and spotting, a few small stains and touches of soiling. Externally a bit rough, but internally very good or better, with all three maps present and in nice condition.

"On June 15, 1764, 'musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol,' [Gibbon] came upon the developed idea. From then until the equally momentous date of June 27, 1787, when he took 'everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion,' the life of Edward Gibbon was the life of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." (Kunitz & Haycraft). "To this task Gibbon brought a width of vision and a critical mastery of the available sources which have not been equalled to this day; and the result was clothed in an inimitable prose" (Printing and the Mind of Man).