History of England, House of Tudor and House of Stuart. 1762 – 1759

The six volumes are in about Very Good condition internally. The first two volumes are generally clean and bright, with ample margins and clear print throughout. The titles of the first two volumes show minor foxing. The final four volumes show mild to moderate foxing (heaviest on the titles), but otherwise clean pages, with clear print and ample margins throughout.

Externally The six volumes are in Good condition only. The bindings are of 18^th century full English calf, contemporary to the time of publication. Their book-blocks are strong, and the boards show only mild scuffing, as well as mild to moderate wear at the edges and corners. The boards of volumes 1 and 2 hold firmly by the cords, as does the rear board of volume 4. The remainder of the boards are detached.

Please see the slideshow on our website in order to gain a better understanding of the content and condition of the volumes.

OF DAVID HUME

David Hume (1711 – 1776) towers over his contemporaries as a philosopher and an historian. His work in philosophy, including the great ‘Treatise of Human Nature,’ the ‘Natural History of Religion,’ the ‘Principles of Morals,’ and the ‘Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,’ constituted the greatest work in Western philosophical thought between Locke and Kant. Indeed, Hume was credited by Kant for having woken him from his ‘dogmatic slumber,’ while the philosopher Jerry Fodor has called the ‘Treatise’ ‘the founding document of cognitive science.’ Hume’s critique of social contractarian theory was definitive, as were his critique of the idea of causation, and the primacy he gave to custom, habit and tradition in the establishment of most ideas. In Economics, Hume is generally credited with having been the first to articulate the idea of comparative advantage. In politics, Hume advocated a principled and skeptical conservatism not unlike that of the later Edmund Burke. Nevertheless, he was notably open-minded, is famous for having given sanctuary to Rousseau when the latter fled the Continent. Hume’s ‘History of England’ was an enormous success during the 18^th century and was the greatest work of its kind before Macaulay.

OF HUME’S GREAT ‘HISTORY OF ENGLAND,’ WHICH, FOR HUME, WAS A PRACTICAL EXTENSION OF HIS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.

The History of England (1754–61) is David Hume’s great work on the history of England, which was written in instalments while he was serving as librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, supervising what was to become the core collection of the National Library of Scotland. Hume’s ‘History’ was originally published in six volumes in 1754 (what would become volume 5), 1756 (what would become volume 6), 1759 (what would become volumes 3 and 4), and 1762 (what would become volumes 1 and 2). The first publication of his History was greeted with outrage by all political factions, but it became a best-seller, finally giving him the financial independence he had long sought. Both the British Library and the Cambridge University Library, as well as Hume’s own library, still list him as “David Hume, the historian.” Hume’s History spanned “from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688” and has been printed in over 100 editions since its original publication. It was very widely considered the standard history of England during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Although the correct title of the collected volumes is The History of England, it is sometimes mistakenly referred to as The History of Great Britain. According to the British Library, The History of Great Britain refers to the last two volumes (volumes 5 and 6) of ‘The History of England.’ The confusion here is because volumes 5 and 6 were the first to be published, in 1754 and 1756, under the title ‘The History of Great Britain;’ covering the period from the dynastic Union of England and Scotland in 1603 until the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Hume then worked backwards chronologically. In 1759, he published his history of the Tudors in 2 volumes, leaving his friend The Rev. Dr. William Robertson (historian), later Principal of Edinburgh University, to write The History of Scotland for the same period. (Robertson went on to publish his famous ‘History of America’). Finally, Hume completed his magnum opus with the appearance in 1762 of another 2 volumes telling the history from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. Thus Hume’s History of Great Britain came to be part of his History of England.