This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/18/2020
[Hyde], Edward, Earl of Clarendon. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, begun in the Year 1641… Oxford: Printed at the Theatre, 1732; vol. I dated 1732 and the others, 1731. Three volumes bound in 6. Second edition, first printing. Contemporary full calf expertly re-backed (ca. 19th century), covers double ruled in gilt, raised bands, blind-stamped rosette centerpieces in compartments, red morocco spine label lettered in gilt. Illustrated with 87 full-page engraved portraits, three folding engraved views, and three folding maps by Herman Moll. 8vos. [vi], xxvii, 288; [ii], 289-720; [iv], [viii-Dedication], 466; [ii], 467-753; [iv], [xiv-Dedication], 364; [iv], 365-773, [56-Index], [12-Bishop of Rochester's Vindication] pp. Pale foxing or browning to titles, faint marginal spotting throughout; a tight and clean set. This 1732 illustrated edition was a re-issue of the 1717 first edition. Both followed the 1702 first folio edition that was published in three volumes but did not include the portraits of the men of the day, including Oliver Cromwell. Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon, was the greatest English statesman on the Royalist side in the period of the English Puritan Revolution. Hyde entered politics in November 1640, as a member of the Long Parliament whose opposition to Charles I gradually turned into Civil War. Charles I encouraged Hyde to use his pen in the Royalist cause. If Hyde undertook it as a work of propaganda, he soon showed that he intended it not to be public propaganda for the King, but private political advice to the King. He also intended it to be a great work of literature. It was in the reign of Queen Anne, Clarendon's granddaughter, that the History was finally published, by the authority of his sons, the leaders of the now dominant Tory party. It at once became a best-seller, and its profits, which had been given to Oxford University, enabled the University to build a new home - the Clarendon Building - to house its learned press, long known as the Clarendon Press.