PRESCOTT’S HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE SECOND, HANDSOMELY BOUND
PRESCOTT, William H. History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain and Biographical & Critical Miscellanies. London: George Routledge and Sons, circa 1880. Two volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter tan calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, burgundy morocco spine labels, marbled boards, endpapers, and edges.
Later edition, with frontispiece portraits, handsomely bound in contemporary three-quarter tan calf-gilt.
“The History of the Reign of Philip the Second (1855 and 1859), Prescott’s ‘pendant to Ferdinand and Isabella’ and his final history, depicts the absolute monarch of the most powerful nation in Europe as ‘an inquisitor at heart,’ devoid of vision, limited in statecraft, and ultimately inefficient. Prescott completed three of the projected four volumes of this work before his death” (ANB). “He conceived of history as narrative and he was a great narrator. The exciting, the thrilling, the colorful were what attracted him. He is at his best in such vivid passages” (Kunitz & Haycraft, 633). Bookplates.
A near-fine, handsome set.