The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. Collected in Three Volumes (First Collected Edition)
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. Collected in Three Volumes (First Collected Edition)
BURKE, Edmund. The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Collected in Three Volumes. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1792. 3 vols.
4to. Rebound in later quarter brown calf and marbled boards by L.J. Cullen Bookbinders. Spines gilt with titling on darker brown panels. Upper edges gilt. Vol. I: [vi], 580 pp.; Vol. II: [iv], 655 pp.; Vol. III: [iv], 602 pp. First collected edition. Todd 79a (1–3); Lowndes 316. Ex-libris Victor Crittenden OAM, bookplate to front pastedown of each volume.
Burke never himself assembled a collection of his writings. It was only when the extraordinary and unexampled demand for the Reflections on the Revolution in France had made his celebrity as a writer impossible to deny that his friends prevailed upon him to permit a regular edition of his works, and accordingly these three quartos appeared in May 1792, printed for Dodsley.
This edition presents the only volumes of Burke's collected works to appear in his lifetime and they represent the most significant single assembly of one of the great minds of eighteenth-century political thought. The range is formidable: the first volume contains the Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), the foundational text of British aesthetic theory and one of the seedbeds of Romanticism, alongside the early Vindication of Natural Society; the second gathers the great speeches and letters on America, including the Speech on American Taxation and the Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents; the third contains the Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), the most influential work of political conservatism in the English language, written in direct response to the events in Paris and addressed to a young Frenchman who had asked for Burke's thoughts.
Macaulay called Burke the greatest orator, ancient or modern, and in aptitude of comprehension and richness of imagination superior to all. These three volumes are the foundation on which that judgement rests.
Provenance: The volumes carry the bookplate of Victor Crittenden OAM (1925–2014), one of Australia's most distinguished bibliographers and book collectors, foundation librarian of what became the University of Canberra, publisher of Mulini Press, recipient of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Special Award in 2007, and Order of Australia medallist in 2010 for his services to Australian bibliography and colonial literary history. His library dispersal adds a layer of significant Australian scholarly provenance to these volumes.
Near fine. Binding fine with a hint of rubbing to corners. Contents near fine with some mild toning throughout and a spot here and there. In remarkably good condition for the age of the contents.
This book is currently not on display in store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]
Catalogue Number: HH000391
Description
BURKE, Edmund. The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Collected in Three Volumes. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1792. 3 vols.
4to. Rebound in later quarter brown calf and marbled boards by L.J. Cullen Bookbinders. Spines gilt with titling on darker brown panels. Upper edges gilt. Vol. I: [vi], 580 pp.; Vol. II: [iv], 655 pp.; Vol. III: [iv], 602 pp. First collected edition. Todd 79a (1–3); Lowndes 316. Ex-libris Victor Crittenden OAM, bookplate to front pastedown of each volume.
Burke never himself assembled a collection of his writings. It was only when the extraordinary and unexampled demand for the Reflections on the Revolution in France had made his celebrity as a writer impossible to deny that his friends prevailed upon him to permit a regular edition of his works, and accordingly these three quartos appeared in May 1792, printed for Dodsley.
This edition presents the only volumes of Burke's collected works to appear in his lifetime and they represent the most significant single assembly of one of the great minds of eighteenth-century political thought. The range is formidable: the first volume contains the Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), the foundational text of British aesthetic theory and one of the seedbeds of Romanticism, alongside the early Vindication of Natural Society; the second gathers the great speeches and letters on America, including the Speech on American Taxation and the Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents; the third contains the Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), the most influential work of political conservatism in the English language, written in direct response to the events in Paris and addressed to a young Frenchman who had asked for Burke's thoughts.
Macaulay called Burke the greatest orator, ancient or modern, and in aptitude of comprehension and richness of imagination superior to all. These three volumes are the foundation on which that judgement rests.
Provenance: The volumes carry the bookplate of Victor Crittenden OAM (1925–2014), one of Australia's most distinguished bibliographers and book collectors, foundation librarian of what became the University of Canberra, publisher of Mulini Press, recipient of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Special Award in 2007, and Order of Australia medallist in 2010 for his services to Australian bibliography and colonial literary history. His library dispersal adds a layer of significant Australian scholarly provenance to these volumes.
Near fine. Binding fine with a hint of rubbing to corners. Contents near fine with some mild toning throughout and a spot here and there. In remarkably good condition for the age of the contents.
This book is currently not on display in store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]
Catalogue Number: HH000391
