“A VIGOR PREVIOUSLY UNRIVALLED IN ENGLISH LITERATURE”: BUCKLE’S HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND, FIRST EDITION, 1857-61, HANDSOMELY BOUND
BUCKLE, Henry Thomas. History of Civilization in England. New Edition. London: John W. Parker and Son; Parker, Son and Bourn, 1857-61. Two volumes bound as three. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt.
First edition of Buckle’s popular treatise on the discipline of history, handsomely bound by The Knickerbocker Press bindery.
Buckle's sole major work—still unfinished at his death—popularized, against the "great men" theory posited by Carlyle, "the belief in the possibility of applying scientific treatment to historical problems… Buckle had many predecessors in his doctrine, but he propagated it with a vigor previously unrivalled in English literature" (DNB). This two-volume, first edition precedes the first three-volume edition, which was published in 1866. Allibone, 277. Baugh et al., 1332. Kunitz & Haycraft, 91-92. Armorial bookplates.
Spines uniformly toned to lighter brown. A fine set, handsomely bound.