The French Revolution : A History [THREE VOLUMES]
London: James Fraser, 1837. First edition, first printing. Bound by The Club Bindery in full red crushed morocco, marbled endpapers, teg. french fillet border front boards, spine titled and gilt in compartments with floral centerpieces, lavish inner dentelles, binding signed by The Club Bindery, 1908. Duodecimo. 404; 422, [2, ads]; 448pp. 7.75" x 4.75" A few surface nicks to boards, some sparse spots of foxing, a uniformly fine set. Item #219681
HISTORIOGRAPHY REDEFINED
Before Thomas Carlyle, English historiography lent itself to dry documentary narration over literary vitality. With The French Revolution, Carlyle chronicled the death of Louis XV through the fall of Robespierre and the aftermath of the Terror in vivid, near novelistic prose, bringing presence and emotion to one of the most important periods in European History. Published in an edition of just 1,000 copies, The French Revolution was not an immediate success. However, its reputation steadily grew in Britain and America, and its delayed success allowed for the publication of Carlyle's later masterpieces. Carlyle's engaging narrative style made The French Revolution one of the defining historical works of the Victorian era, influencing writers such as John Ruskin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Charles Dickens, who kept a copy close at hand while writing A Tale of Two Cities.
The copy presented here is a finely bound first edition from the library of Robert Hoe (1839-1911)––-cofounder of The Club Bindery and the first president of the Grollier Club––each copy retaining his extravegant red morocco ex libris bookplate.
[Dyer, 85].
Price: $4,500.00