[Rarebooks] fa: EDWARD GIBBON - HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 1782-88 - Six 4to vols./Period tree calf

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 17. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/y9yw4vr7

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1782-88. Six volumes, large 4to (28 x 23 cm), bound in uniform period tree calf with gilt-tooled spines and morocco spine labels. First editions of volumes IV, V and VI; "new" editions of volumes I, II and III. Half-titles in all but vol. I (as issued); engraved portrait frontispiece and three engraved maps, two of which are folding (complete). ESTC T78359, N36543, T78365; PMM 222.

Intermittent damp-staining to the bottom of the text-blocks, most visibly on the vol. I frontispiece and front and rear endpapers, elsewhere mostly light, when noticeable at all; a few occasional small spots; bindings with some rubbing and modest bumping and wear to the extremities; vol. I rebacked with the original spine laid down, other vols. with some joints cracked or cracking, but the boards are holding. Engraved armorial bookplates of Sir Henry Goodricke, Bart. VOL. I (1782): vii, [13], 704 pp., frontispiece and 2 folding maps — VOL. II (1787): [12], 640 pp., one map — VOL. III (1787): [12], 640 pp. — VOL. IV (1788): [4], viii, [8], 620 pp., leaf L*2 a cancel — VOL. V: [12], 684 pp. — VOL. VI: [14], 646, [52] pp., index and errata page.

An attractive set of first or early printings of the original large-format (4to) edition, not to be confused with the smaller (8vo) edition issued in twelve volumes from 1783-90. Complete with the three fine engraved maps. "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).