Miscellaneous Works.: With memoirs of his life and writings, composed by himself: illustrated from his letters, with occasional notes and narrative, by John Lord Sheffield.

Basel: Printed and sold by J. J. Tourneisen,, 1796-97. First continental edition, following the original London publication by Cadell & Davies earlier that year. The work includes the first appearance of Gibbon's autobiography, titled the Memoirs of My Life, which created the image of Gibbon which so fascinated the 19th century. Gibbon died in 1794, leaving his papers to John Baker Holroyd, Lord Sheffield (1735–1821), then serving on the Board of Agriculture. Sheffield faced a monumental task, not least in collating six different manuscripts of the Memoirs into one. Besides the autobiography, Sheffield's edition collects much of Gibbon's correspondence, several of his essays (including one defending his arguments in the Decline and Fall), and extracts from his journal. J. J. Tourneisen specialized in producing pirated versions of British and Scottish Enlightenment works for the continental market. Provenance: Georg Heinrich Thommen (1908-1956), a Swiss journalist, with his blue ink stamp on the front free endpaper of each volume. That of Volume I also carries the inscription "To my dear friend dr. Rudolf Frowe. Xmas 1941. Heinrich Thommen." Seven volumes bound in 3, octavo (202 x 127 mm). Contemporary marbled paper boards, spines with gilt decorative borders and red paper label, edges red, green silk bookmarkers. Text in English and French. 19th-century bookplates of "V. A. B. Baron Bentinck" (vol. I only),possibly Willem van Aldenburg Bentinck (1848-1912) and of one "Dr Grauff" on front pastedowns. Light bumping and wear, slight cosmetic splits to several hinges, moderate browning and foxing to contents: a very good set. ESTC T79698; Norton 133.