Description

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq. Printed for Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Published in London, 1848; printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square. New Edition. 8 volumes complete. Full leather binding. Each volume measures 5.75” x 9” / octavo. A very handsome set of Gibbon’s seminal work in leather binding, with gilt spine edges, gilt decorations, marbled edges on all three sides, and marbled endpages. Three of the volumes contain pull-out maps in the back. Gibbon’s timeless masterpiece has been highly praised for its historical insights and writing style. Please note - because of the weight of the set, the books may ship in two packages. Condition: The leather on all 8 volumes has some scratching, rubbing, scuffing, and staining to various degrees, particularly notable on the back of volume 1, the front lower right of volume 3, and the back of volume 8. The top and bottom spine edges have various degrees of bumping, chipping, and small tears, particularly the top of volume 1. The spine lettering and titles also have some chipping, most notably volume 1 (affecting the full readability of the title) and volume 5. All three outer edges are marbled, with the top edges more sun faded than the sides and bottoms. There is a name tastefully written on an initial endpage of each volume, and most volumes contain a small penciled letter (I believe G) on the bottom of the printer page in the back. Volume 1 has some light erasure marks on an initial endpage and back endpage. There is a very small hairline tear to the right margin of the title page, along with some transference of the frontispiece. The frontis engraving has mild staining. The endpages have occasional, small stains. There may be an occasional, small stain or mark in the text, but overall, the pages are quite clean, without foxing. There is a hint of tanning towards the margins of the pages, moreso at the top. The maps in the back of volumes 2, 4, and 8 have some ripping along the fold lines, particularly volume 8. There is a small pencil mark / initial on the back of the map in volume 2. The font and back hinges of all volumes have some splitting to various degrees, but all pages and covers are holding. Otherwise, binding is sound throughout the text pages. The spines are somewhat delicate and chip / shed easily, as does the leather, with some color transfer. Some age wrinkling in the text pages. Overall, a very nice set for its age.