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ROBERTSON, William.
The History of America.
The Seventh Edition. [together with;] The History of America. Books IX and X. Containing the History of Virginia, to the Year 1688; and the History of New England, to the Year 1652.
Publisher: A. Strahan, and T. Cadell; and E Balfour, Edinburgh, 1796
Stock code: 65506
Price: £650 Currency Conversion
First published in 1777, this edition with the first edition of the additional volume containing the previously unpublished early history of British America. "Most highly regarded secondary source of its time" (Howes). Roberston's work "helped establish historical writing as one of the foremost literary genres of Enlightenment Scotland. The dignity of his style brought equal dignity to the subject matter, and in no small measure Robertson's works helped pave the way for the dominance of history that was to follow in the nineteenth century. Although in recent years both Hume and Gibbon have often been considered greater historians in terms of intellectual insight and historical comprehension, Robertson's contemporaries generally had no hesitation about making him their equal, if not superior" (ODNB). Regarded as Robertson's "most interesting, original, and even Romantic work," it was an immediate success, particularly so "on the continent, where it was considered Robertson's masterpiece (in Suard's translation), and went through nine editions between 1777 and 1780."
4 volumes octavo (207 × 126 mm). Contemporary tree calf, flat spines, red morocco titling-pieces, green roundel numbering-pieces, spines gilt in compartments with palm and olive branch corner-pieces and central tool of an eight-pointed star roundel, edges sprinkled blue. 4 folding maps by Thomas Kitchin, one folding plate, half-titles present in each. Contemporary ownership inscription of Francis Way to all title pages. A little rubbed on the spines and at the edges, some foxing, but a very nice set in an attractive contemporary binding.
