Edward Gibbon - Mémoires de Gibbon suivis de quelques ouvrages posthumes et de quelques lettres du même auteur - 1797

Edward Gibbon. Memoirs of Gibbon followed by a few posthumous works and a few letters by the same author. Paris, at the publisher of the Philosophical Decade, An V [1797], xxxvi-352 pp., iv-452 pp.

2 volumes in 8vo (200x125 mm), half calf, spine adorned with a cold-pressed decorative motif, title and volume labels in black morocco, marbled edges (bindings of the period). Wear and rubbing on the covers and spine. Some foxing.

First French edition; frontispiece missing for Volume I

In his Memoirs, Edward Gibbon notably speaks of his studies at Oxford, his stay in Switzerland, his travels in Europe, his service in the British army and his relations with European intellectual circles. Significant emphasis is given to his sojourn in Lausanne, where he conceived and began to develop his monumental work on the Roman Empire.

The autobiographical text, left unfinished at Gibbon’s death, is collected and published by his friend John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield (1735-1821). He also gathers several posthumous writings and a selection of letters allowing a better acquaintance with the historian’s personality, friendships and intellectual concerns.