Donnelly Antiques Ltd has dated this piece to the Victorian era.
The spines are attractively set out in 5 sections with black title labels in two of these with gilt lettering and banding.

This set deals comprehensively with the tumultuous period in history from the French Revolution to the end of the Napoleonic Wars and their effects in Europe. Archibald Alison, a Scottish advocate and historian enjoyed considerable commerical success, being revised and reprinted many times in the nineteenth century, as well as being translated into French, German, and Arabic.

Each volume (I-XII) contains 2 black and white plates. other than volume XI which contains a single plate.
Each volume contains the bookplate of Richard Henry Hay with the family crest and motto 'Serva Jugum' - Keep the Yoke. This important Scottish family have a long history and Robert the Bruce appointed SIr Gilbert Hay Lord High Constable of Scotland. The family are understood to still hold this title which gives them precedence in Scotland immediately after the Royal family.

This hansome set has the usual shelf wear consistent with age and is generally presented in very good condition overall. There is no cracking to hinges and light rubbing principally to the heads and bases of spines. Internally each volume is tightly bound and has light browning to the very edges of pages together with some light foxing which is also found in a few pages of each book, otherwise the pages are clean. All title labels are original and intact. The colour of the spine to the Index volume is a little lighter in colour than the rest of the set.

There is a tear to the margin of page 11/12 in Vol I as well as to page 195/6 in Volume IV. Volume I also has a nibble out of the margin of page 317/8 with no loss of text.
Height of each volume 18.5cms and depth12.9cms. There are slight diffences in the width of the volumes with the Index being just 1.7cms and the widest being some 2.7cms. The overall shelf length of the set is some 33.5cms.

The years covered by each volume are as folllows:-
Volume I - 1774-1791
Volume II - 1791-1793
Volume III - 1793-1796
Volume IV - 1797-1800
Volume V - 1800-1804

Volume VI - 1805-1807
Volume VII - 1807-1808
Volume VIII - 1808-1811
Volume IX - 1811-1812
Volume X - 1812-1813
Voulme XI - 1813-1814
Volume XII - 1814-1815
Donnelly Antiques Ltd has dated this piece to the Victorian era.
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