WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, HANDSOMELY BOUND

TEMPLE, William. The Works. London: F.C. and J. Rivington, et al., 1814. Four volumes. Octavo, early 20th-century full brown crushed morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $1250.

Later edition of Temple’s Works, including his Essay upon the Original and Nature of Government, handsomely bound by Rivière.

The fame of 17th-century English statesman, diplomat, and author William Temple rests securely on his diplomatic triumphs and political treatises. “He was debarred by his impartiality, his honesty, and his want of ambition from taking an active part in the disgraceful domestic politics of his time. But in the foreign relations of his country he was intimately concerned for a period of fourteen years, and in all that is praiseworthy in them he had a principal hand… He will be remembered as one of the ablest negotiators that England has produced, and as a public servant who, in an unprincipled age and in circumstances peculiarly open to corruption, preserved a blameless record… Temple’s literary works are mostly political, and are of considerable importance” (NNDB). Among the more notable are An Essay upon the Original and Nature of Government (first published in 1672), Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1672), An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland (1673), Of Health and Long Life and Of the Different Conditions of Life and Fortune (1680), first published collectively in 1720. Lowndes, 2602.

A fine set, beautifully bound.