"STIRRING EVENTS AND THRILLING SCENES": PRESCOTT'S WORKS, HANDSOMELY BOUND

PRESCOTT, William. Works. New York; Boston: Harper & Brothers; Phillips, Sampson, 1844-59. Fifteen volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter burgundy morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. $2800.

Handsomely bound collection of early editions of Prescott's works, illustrated with engraved frontispiece portraits.

"History for Prescott was primarily a form of polite literature, written quite as much for the entertainment as for the instruction of his readers; it was, therefore, in the recounting of stirring events and thrilling scenes that he took pleasure and excelled." His works on Spain's Golden Age and role in the New World today remain standard authorities and reflect "the scrupulous care and integrity with which he used his materials, and the pains he took to find the exact truth" (DAB VIII, 199). Contains History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, 1857, first published in Boston in 1838; The History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1844, first published in 1843; The History of the Conquest of Peru, 1847 first American edition, preceded by the London edition of the same year; History of the Reign of Phillip the Second, 1856-58, first published in 1855-58 (Volume III is a first edition); History of the Reign of Charles the Fifth, 1857 first American edition, preceded by the London edition of the same year; Biographical and Critical Miscellanies, 1859, first published in 1845. See BAL 16334, 16340, 16343, 16346, 16354, 16362, 16365.

Occasional toning or spotting to text; light rubbing to some corners and spine heads. An extremely good and handsome set.