The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [COMPLETE IN 6 VOLUMES]

London: Printed for W. (or A.) Strahan and T. Cadell, 1782. First edition, in part. Hardcover. Very good. Six volumes, large quarto (28.3 by 22 cm), published between 1782 and 1788. Engraved frontispiece portrait, 3 engraved maps (2 large folding; 1 full-page); general index and errata; printed marginalia. Full contemporary diced calf (expertly rebacked to style; light rubbing/wear at extremities); covers ruled in gilt; spine with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt; marbled edges and endleaves; gilt turn-ins. Text lightly toned throughout with occasional smudges and light foxing (largely confined to top margin); tear at leaf Aa2 (vol. 1) extending (truncated) into text, expertly repaired; very occasional light pencil underlinings and annotations at margins, else a very good, amply-margined set, with fine maps.

Mixed set, comprising three volumes of "A New Edition" (vols. 1-3) and three volumes of the first edition (vols. 4-6). First conceived by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) amidst the ruins of Rome on 15 October 1764, the first edition of the work was issued serially, the first volume appearing in 1776, the final three in 1788. "This masterpiece of historical penetration and literary style has remained one of the ageless historical works... a comprehensive picture of the whole Mediterranean world from the death of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 180) to the fall of Constaniople in 1453. 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. It was his good fortune, as Lytton Strachey observed, that 'the material with which he had to cope was still just not too voluminous to be digested by a single extremely competent mind. In the following century even a Gibbon would have collapsed under the accumulated mass of knowledge at his disposal'" (PMM).

The Decline and Fall was a notable publishing success; the print run of the first volume was expanded by William Strahan from 500 to 1000 copies, and sold out in less than two weeks. Among the more progressive-minded savants in the literary and academic world, it was well received: "From the chorus of praise, the admiration of Adam Ferguson, Joseph Warton, and Horace Walpole must have been deeply gratifying. It was, however, David Hume's letter of congratulation which according to Gibbon 'overpaid the labour of ten years.'" (ODNB). But Hume's praise was laced with warning. He believed that despite Gibbon's "very prudent temperament" in discussing the origins and early history of Christianity in the 15th and 16th chapters of the first volume, "it was impossible to treat the subject so as not to give grounds of suspicion against you, and you may expect that a clamour will arise" (quoted in ODNB). These chapters did indeed arouse heated condemnation from Christians of all denominations and Gibbon made extensive revisions to them in the three subsequent editions of the first volume and in the New Edition which appears in the present set.

The engraved frontispiece, after Sir Joshua Reynold's acclaimed portrait, originally appeared in the first edition of the second volume. All three maps are dated 1781. References: Carter and Muir, Printing and the Mind of Man, 222; ESTC T78359 (vol. 1) - N36543 (vols. 2-3) - T78365 (vols. 4-6); J. Norton, A Bibliography of the Works of Edward Gibbon, pp. 26, 27, 29; D. Womersley, "Edward Gibbon" [in:] ODNB.

Vol. 1 (1782) - A New Edition: vii (title and preface), [13: advertisement and contents], 704 pp; engraved frontispiece portrait. With original preface (Bentinck-Street, Feb 1, 1776); postscript (March 1, 1781); new preface (March 1, 1782).

Vol. 2 (1787) - A New Edition: [10: title and contents], 640 pp; full-page map " A Map of the Parts of Europe and Asia Adjacent to Constantinople" (full-page); "A Map of the Eastern Part of the Roman Empire" (large folding)

Vol. 3 (1787) - A New Edition: [10: title and contents], 640 pp; "A Map of the Western Part of the Roman Empire (large folding).

Vol. 4 (1788): [2: title], viii (preface), [8: contents], 620 pp.

Vol. 5 (1788): [10: title and contents], 684 pp.

Vol. 6 (1788): [12: title and contents], 646, [52: general index and errata] pp. (Inventory #: 54807)