Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain Engraved from Authentic Pictures in the Galleries of the Nobility and the Public Collections of the Country With Biographical and Historical Memoirs of their Lives and Actions

London: Printed for Harding, Mavor and Lepard, 1823-34. First edition. Leather. Very Good. 11" by 7.5". Not Stated . Edmund Lodge's celebrated biography of eminent people in Great Britain, the first edition complete in twelve volumes in some charming Hatchard signed bindings. A set complete in twelve volumes of Edmund Lodge's elaborate collection of eminent people in British history. Twelve volumes bound a smart half morocco over marbled cloth boards and gilt to the top edge signed Hatchards. Complete with half titles. Each biographical sketch is accompanied by a portrait of the person of interest. Originally published periodically in parts every other month, this is the first edition of the work, printed for Harding, Mavor and Lepard. The history of the country, in memoirs of the most illustrious English nobility and great officers of state. The content is selected from the highest authority and the portraits preserved in the gallery of the nobility, descendants of the people represented, or in the public collections. The illustrations are painted by the likes of Holbein, Rubens, Vandyke, Lely, Kneller, and other great masters. Including biographical sketches of King Henry the Eighth, Sir Walter Scott, Queen Anne Bullen, Sir Nicholas Carew, Francis Bacon, Queen Catharine Parr, Robert Dudley, James Butler, Lord Paget, Francis Drake, John Locke and many others. There are twenty biographies per volume. Each volume with its own title page, dated 1823-34. Volumes 2-4 with the imprint 'London: printed for Harding, Triphook and Lepard.' Volumes 5-8 'London: printed for Harding, Lepard and Co.' and volumes 9-12 'London: printed for Harding and Lepard.' The printer's colophon is printed on the verso of the half titles. Collated, complete with two hundred and forty portraits. With a complete collation to all volumes bound in volume one. From the library at Julian Park, Hertfordshire, belonging to Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie. Audrey was the youngest daughter of an Anglo-American lumber and steel millionaire, sister to Edward James, a key figure in the Surrealist movement, and the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII. She was an English socialite known for her beauty and for charming various wealthy men, she was included in The Book of Beauty by Cecil Beaton. A patron of the arts, she assisted Viscount Carlow financially in the publication of limited editions of numerous works by leading literary figures such as T E Lawrence, James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, and others. A hedonistic pursuer, she was recognised as one of the 'Bright Young Things'.  In a half morocco binding over cloth marbled boards, with marbled endpapers and gilt to the top edge. Externally smart with only minor shelf wear and minor rubbing to the spine and extremities. Internally, firmly bound. With only minor spotting to the odd leaf, particularly to the leaves of plates, and a minor marginal staining mark to the odd plate, otherwise the pages are bright and clean. Minor cockling to the leaves of volume VII, seems due to damp damage. Illustrated with two hundred and forty portraits. Collated, complete. Very Good