The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in Eight Volumes: The Turn of the Tide; Constantine and the Christian Empire; The Revival and Collapse of Paganism; The End of the Western Empire; Justinian and the Roman Law; Mohammed and the Rise…

Complete in eight hardcover volumes. Edited with introduction by Betty Radice. Illustrations from etchings by Gian Battista Piranesi throughout text. 9 7/8 x 6 3/8. 8vo. Bound in cream vegetable parchment (which has the look of vellum) blocked in red, blue, and gold. Gilt titles & rules. Maps on endpapers. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89. The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. It stands as a major literary achievement of the 18th century because it was adopted as a model for the methodologies of modern historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first modern historian of Ancient Rome.