The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq. In Twelve Volumes. A New Edition. London: Printed by A. Strahan, for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, 1802.
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Size: 146 x 221 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[frontis, t.p., iii-xxiv, 2 foldout maps, 456pp.]; [t.p., iii-xv, pp.1-22, foldout, pp.23-496]; [t.p., iii-viii, 412pp.]; [t.p., iii-viii, 442pp.]; [t.p., i-vii, 432pp.]; [t.p., i-viii, 420pp.]; [t.p., v-viii, 424pp.]; [half title, t.p., i-viii, 375pp.]; [t.p., v-xii, 502pp.]; [half title, t.p., v-xii, 385pp.]; [v-xii, 460pp.]; [t.p., v-xv, 432pp., 48ff.];
A very attractive set of Gibbon's magnum opus of ancient Roman history uniformly bound in contemporary full calf with a blind stamped cross hatching pattern to the leather. Spines a little rubbed, more so at extremities as typical with a bit of loss to the backstrip of volume nine. Boards rubbed with some discolouration as typical. The top half of the rear board of volume twelve is sunned. Joints rubbed but with all boards attached, the bindings secure and when placed together as a set on the shelf, it is without shelf lean, though volume one can lean very slightly depending on how it is placed because of the foldout maps, both being bound into volume one rather than across the first two volumes as is more typical. Page edges generally very good, the tops uniformly dulled as often with some minor discolouration to the bottom edges. Without any attached bookplates. Text blocks are generally clean and legible but there are varying degrees of foxing in each volume, mostly confined to the endpapers, the first few numbered pages of the text block in volume one are more heavily foxed as are the foldout maps. The foldout maps in volume one are torn as pictured. The foldout map in volume two to the verso of pp.22 is in excellent condition and is dated 1781, perhaps being borrowed from the sheets of the first edition. Across some leaves there is some offsetting to the text. In volume four the text ends on pp.442 and is missing some leaves at the end there. Blanks missing in several volumes. The remaining text has not been collated against a bibliography but appears to be complete apart from the aforementioned leaves at the end of volume four.
[OCLC 969090652].
