The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

London: John Murray, 1903-1925. Cloth. Good. 9" by 6". None. A bright, smartly bound set of Edward Gibbon's seminal work 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. With an illustrated frontispiece of Edward Gibbon and a folding map to the rear of volume I. Folding map frontispiece to volumes III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII.   Folding map to the rear of volumes V, VI, and VIII.  Maps remain in a bright condition. A New edition with notes by Dean Milman, M Guizot and Sir William Smith. This set comprises seven of eight volumes only. Lacking volume II.  Collated, the volumes that are present are complete. Volume I is dated 1925, Volume III is dated 1922, Volume IV is dated 1925, Volume V is dated 1922, Volume VI is dated 1925, Volume VII is dated 1903 and volume VIII is dated 1903. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire traces the trajectory of Western civilisation from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium and therefore spans a nearly 1500 year period from 98 to 1590 of the Roman Empire. Therefore, Gibbon discusses the history of early Christianity, the Roman State Church as well as the history of Europe. The popularity of this work rests on Gibbon's objectivity and heavy use of primary sources. In the eighteenth century the use of primary sources for historical was very rare which was why his work was extremely popular. His methodology also became a model for later historians. Edward Gibbon wrote many historical works, but is best known for this title. This is due to its quality, the use of primary sources as well as the open criticism of organised religions. The work earned him a reputation as the first modern historian of Ancient Rome. In uniform cloth bindings. Externally, generally smart. Externally, generally smart. Bumping to the extremities and to the head and tail of spine. A few light marks to spines. Crease to front board of volume V. Internally, all volumes are firmly bound. Pages are bright. Good