“AN INVALUABLE RECORD OF THE PERIOD”
EVELYN, John. Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn. London: George Bell and Sons, 1902. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. $850.
Revised and expanded edition of Evelyn’s diaries and correspondence, illustrated with 45 engraved plates, including portraits and landscape views, and handsomely bound by Morrell.
“Evelyn is the typical instance of the accomplished and public-spirited country gentleman of the Restoration, a pious and devoted member of the church of England, and a staunch loyalist in spite of his grave disapproval of the manners of the court” (DNB). Chiefly remembered for his Diary, first published in 1818, this work “covers most of his life, describing his travels abroad, his contemporaries, and his public and domestic concerns, and is an invaluable record of the period” (Drabble, 189). With folding genealogical chart of the Evelyn family.
A handsome set in fine condition.