Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: LANE, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780713991246ISBN:0713991240
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. THREE VOLUME SET IN DJS ALL FINE. Vol. I: Volume the First (1776) and Volume the Second [1781)Vol. II: Volume the Third (1781) and Volume the Fourth (1788)Vol. III: Volume the Fifth (1788) and Volume the Sixth (1788). FIRST EDITIONS OF THIS SET. bumped corner of one volume. read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, England
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780713991246ISBN:0713991240
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Set. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 3500 pp. Three Volume Set. Stated First Allen Lane The Prenguin press Edition, 1st Printing. Black cloth with silver lettering/decoration to spine. Edited, with an Introduction and Appendices, by David Womersley. Pages are bright and clean (no writing, underlining, or highlighting). Rear hinge on Vol. 1 is a bit loose but secure. Otherwise, the text of the three volumes are crisp, clean and sound. Unclipped pictorial DJs are lightly age ... read more
Publisher: Allen Lane/Penguin Press, NY
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780713991246ISBN:0713991240
Description: 3 Vol set in slipcase. All 3 volumes are in FINE unused, unmarked condition. All 3 have their dustjackets in FINE condition as well. Even the slipcase appears "as new". This is the first printing of this 1994 edition. A beautiful set indeed. This heavy set will require $8.00 shipping for media mail anywhere in continental U.S. read more
"This book should more realistically be called, the decline of the roman empire and the rise of Christianity. Much of the book is focused on the early history of the church, which makes for interesting reading if you are at all interested in that period of time. What is also interesting is the ideas Gibbon's expresses in the book. As it was written in the late 1700's before footnotes and needing to back the sources you use, it is very interestingly written with his views on politics, religion, and different parts of the world not hidden but floating on the surface. Should you read this book? That is a great question, one that I would answer yes to only if you a) were interested in the history of the church b) interested in the history of the romans and their politics and culture c) were interested in intellectual english thought in the late 1700's d) have a lot of free time on your hands or e) are a massacist. Thankfully I meet a few of those. I am glad I read it, but dont feel you need to read it to fully understand what is being asked in the book."
"Edward Gibbon is the greatest writer of history, and perhaps the best writer ever to employ the English language. Like nearly everyone, I cannot say that I read the entire text, but I say that with deep regret, and the hope that one day I can read the complete text of this awesome book all the way through. Gibbon is dead a good 200 years, but his scholarship and analysis live on now, and hopefully, forever. Of course the book is massive, but when one deals in great detail with nearly fifteen hundred years of history of the greatest empire in antiquity, one should expect nothing less. He covers the entire empire, not just the western empire, but the entire empire right to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D., and provides so much thoughtful anaylsis and endless amounts of information that one takes it for granted, until one picks up any other history book. On top of the above, Gibbon showed himself to be an absolute master of the English language, and I still consider him to be the best writer of anything that ever lived. He is the absolute master of providing detailed information about a topic in lengthy, extended sentences in which one never loses the train of the author's thought: the words flow on like a clear stream, ever carrying the reader to a better understanding of the subject without being tiresome. He uses an extensive vocabulary. One just cannot find a better way to write. Gibbon is a master of the subject matter, and his analysis is faultless. The controversial attribution by him of the cause of the empire's decline to its Christianity is not the only reason he gives for the decline, but it holds up quite well if one gives Gibbon a chance to clarify it. And his famous prognostication about the rise of the then non-existent USA and of Russia as powers in the future has clearly been fulfilled. I believe that every serious history student and buff should own the complete edition of this book. Abridgments only cheat the owners of a classic of world historiography, and an awesome piece of literature in its own right."
"I believe I shall be spending the rest of my life reading Mr. Gibbon. After all, that is how a work like this should be read, dragged out in all its majesty. The man's way with words is indescripable... I haven't read it all, I probably never will, but I just enjoy the experience of reading Gibbon more than having the urge to finish him. In fact, I have the opposite of the urge to finish him. I want this book to last forever."
"Unreviewable (in the sense of priceless). I only read it in abridgement, as I figure the full six volumes can wait for my doddering old age. If you read it, in full or in abridgement, get the latest Penguin edition! It preserves Gibbon's original sentence structure, unlike the Everyman edition which chops his flowing prose into more digestible chunks."
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