Macaulay's History of England Dated 1885 Complete in 8 Books

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, FRS FRSE PC (1800 – 1859) was a British historian, poet and Whig politician. He was an active opponent of slavery and a supporter of education and equality in India. He wrote extensively as an essayist, on contemporary and historical socio-political subjects, and as a reviewer. Macaulay's masterwork, The History of England (from the ascension of James II) was a seminal example of Whig historiography, and its literary style has remained an object of praise since its publication. This work covers the 17 year period from 1685 to 1702 and encompasses the reign of James II, the Glorious Revolution, the coregency of William III and Mary II, up to William III's death. This was originally published as a work in 5 volumes which achieved sales of some 130,000 in Great Britain alone within its first 25 years of availability. Volumes I & II were published in December 1848, volumes III & IV in November 1855 and Volume V was published posthumously in 1861. Macaulay is buried in Westminster Abbey.

This 8 volume set, published by Longmans, Green and Co in 1885, is uniformly bound in polished tan half calf (spines and across corners) with marbled boards, end papers and edges. The gilt decorated spines are arranged into 6 sections by 5 raised bands with the 2 title sections gilt decorated on contrasting leather backgrounds. The books are discretely stamped by A Denny, bookbinders and book sellers of of 147 Strand, London. The frontispiece of Volume I is an engraving of the author.

Volume VIII was edited by the author's sister, Lady Trevelyan and contains a memoir of Lord Macaulay by The Very Reverend, Henry Hart Milman, DD, late Dean of St Paul's.

The set is complete and presented in good antiquarian condition for its age. There is wear to the covers, some corners are lightly bumped and internally the pages are age toned and whilst the text is generally little affected by foxing the first and last few pages of each volume do have foxing. There is no cracking to the hinges and all volumes remain tightly bound,

The books are 17.8cms high, 12.6cms deep and whilst of varying widths the total run is some 20.5cms.