£125
FIRST EDITION, 4to, pp. [ii], li, [i], 277, [iii], clviii + frontispiece. Contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards, spine divided by double gilt rules and lettered in gilt direct, edges sprinkled blue. A touch of spotting, pastedowns toned. Slightly rubbed, a touch of wear to bottom edge. Armorial bookplate of Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope to pastedown.
One of the ordinary-paper copies of this overweening flop: left unfinished at Fox's death, the manuscript was acquired by William Miller for an unprecedented sum and rushed into print in two printshops simultaneously. William Savage printed the 'ordinary' copies, as here (though still generously-margined) while large- and extra-large-paper examples were produced by Bulmer, using an entirely different setting of type. Several decades later the print run had yet to sell out, and Miller barely recouped his investment. Fox's actual writing, an oratorical attack on the Stuarts from a Whiggish perspective, based on original research in French and British archives, was somewhat overshadowed by the excitement.
