Buckle's History of Civilisation in England Complete in 2 Beautifully Bound Books by Zaehnsdorf

The death of his wealthy London merchant father in 1840 left Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862) independent, allowing him to travel and acquire facility in nineteen languages and flu-ency in seven. He set out on an ambitious plan to write a fourteen-volume history of civilisation, and at the same time to put historical research on a more scientific basis. The envisaged work would have included numerous countries, but due to his early death, only these two volumes exist.

Volume I (854 pages) is a second edition published 1858, the 1st edition published the previous year and volume II (601 pages) is an 1861 1st Edition. Both volumes are uniformly bound in handsome polished calf bindings by the highly revered bookbinding firm of Zaehnsdorf which was founded in London in 1842 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf (1816-1886) an Austro-Hungarian craftsman-binder who also wrote The Art of Book binding (1880). The spines, arranged in 6 compartments by 5 raised bands, are elaborately gilt decorated, the title labels are gilt lettered, the board edges have gilt detail as do the inner dentelles and page edges are all finished in gilt. The end papers are marbled and volume II has two parts of the bookplate for F Sims Williams. A fine set which is tightly bound and clean with only a few marks and minor wear.

Approximate height 22.2cms, depth 15cms and combined shelf coverage of some 9cms.

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