HANDSOMELY BOUND SET OF HAZLITT'S LIFE OF NAPOLEON

(NAPOLEON) HAZLITT, William. The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte. London: Office of the Illustrated London Library, 1852. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary full polished brown calf rebacked in period style, elaborately gilt-decorated spines and board edges, original orange leather spine labels, marbled endpapers. $750.

Second edition of Hazlitt's important biography, with engraved frontispieces and title-page vignettes.

Hazlitt first published this biography of the man he considered "the greatest man of his era, the apostle of freedom, a born leader of men in the old heroic mold" in 1828 in an attempt to "counterbalance the effect of the unsympathetic Life of Napoleon which Sir Walter Scott was writing" (Wardle, 446, 426). After Hazlitt's death, his son added an index and made small revisions and corrections to the work; his introduction notes that "the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, my father's last, largest, and upon the whole, greatest work, has been for some years out of print… it is with great gratification that I now issue a new edition of this important history" (p. v). Bookplates.

A handsome set in near-fine condition.