Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in Six Volumes, Quarto, Abridged in Two Volumes, Octavo

London, Printed for G. Kearsley..., 1789. FIRST ABRIDGED EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, pp. xi [xii blank], 569 [570 blank, 571-572 adverts]; xi [xii blank], 562 [563-564 adverts], contemporary calf, rebacked with old spines and labels preserved and laid down, new front free end-paper in each volume. A very good set, with the words "Philosopher & Infidel" in a contemporary hand bracketing Gibbon's name on the title-page. This abridgement of Gibbon's six massive quartos has been variously attributed to the Aberdonian schoolmaster and educational writer John Adams (1750 - 1814) in the BL catalogue and in the Oxford DNB; and to the Reverend Charles Hereford by other commentators. The same abridgement was published in Dublin in 1790. The English Review, Or, An Abstract of English and Foreign Literature gave it a brief mention in 1791: "Our opinion of Gibbon's history is already known to the public. Concerning the present work, therefore, we have only to observe, that it is abridged with as little variation as possible from the original language. Tge truth is, that the epitomiser has servilely adhered to the text, even in expressions which are not defensible, either upon the principles of grammar or analogy. The abridgment, however, gives a competent view of the subject, and will prove more convenient to many readers from the consideration both of time and expence." In the same year The Analytical Review had an axe to grind: "We must add, however, that so much of Mr Gibbon's stile is (perhaps unavoidably) preserved, that this publication can never be useful to young persons, who will not be able to understand perfectly the metaphorical flights, and the intricate phraseology of the author. It is even a question, whether the brevity of style essential to an abridgment has not rather increased the original obscurity.l" There are three ESTC listings for this work. T78371 locates copies in the BL, the Bodleian, Oxford University Trinity College Library, National Library of Wales; Huntington, Stanford and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A Dublin edition of 1790, T78372: BL, National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Library; and in 1790 a reissue of the sheets of the 1789 edition, "Abridged and expurgated for 'the youthful mind' (vol.1, 2nd preliminary leaf)": Cambridge, Longleat House, Essex; Harvard Houghton, Library Company of Philadelphia.