The Works
London: J and P Knapton, 1751. Hardcover. xi, x, ix-xxvi, 176; 228p: xxxii, 207p, 264p: lv, 253p, [16]: iii, 347p; xxvii, 264: vii, 208p; x, 271p. Small 8vo. Complete with 24 plates as wanted. Nine volumes bound in five. Modern quarter calf over marbled boards. FROM THE LIBRARY OF EDWARD GIBBON (1737-1794) with his signature on the title page of each volume, except volume V. The signatures are positioned so with the helpful aid of a ?the? at the top of title page, it reads ?Edw, ?THE? Gibbon? The first edition edited and published by Pope? friend William Warburton (1698-1779). That the edition did well, is evident by Knapton ordering another 2500 sets in the same format for the 1753 edition. See Nicol. Pope?s Literary Legacy p178. Keynes p228 lists a copy of this edition referencing to the Bentinck Street catalogue. However, there is an inscription in pencil on the inside rear blank which reads ?Genève Sept 25, 1882? There is an additional signature of H.K. Corning 1880 on the inside front blank in volume 1 and small blue rubber stamp on the inside rear blank in each volume. H.K. Corning was a resident of Basel Switzerland. It?s quite possible this copy came down through the Beckford-Scoll-Halliday collections of books from Gibbon's Library. The name Halliday appear on the inside front title page to volume 8. But Gibbon?s was a ?working library ? as Keynes p16 states. So, for Gibbon to own a duplicate set of Pope would not have been entirely unsurprising since Gibbon was, as Nichols writes p178, inspired by Pope. Complete with 24 plates with some offsetting from the plates. There is a I inch wide stain along the inner margin at front blanks and the title pages to volume 3 & 8 as well as on the rear blanks which is offsetting from binders tape in a previous binding. Small worm hole on the lower front title page to vol. VI. Not affecting any text. Lowndes IV 1918. Very Good. Item #7538
8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall.
Price: $2,500.00