1793 A Selection from the Harleian Miscellany of Tracts, Which Principally Regard the English History; of Which Many are Referred to by Hume.

Description

Early Edition

First abridged edition of this collection of the material taken from the library of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and his son Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, consisting largely of seventeenth and early eighteenth century religious and political pamphlets. Originally published between 1744 and 1753, the publisher's advertisement to the start of this work explains that this abridged edition 'contains on quantity one sixth of the Miscellany', with the price being 'only one-twelfth of what the original work now falls for'. The personal library of Robert Harley and his son collected and preserved literature from many different eras, including the Renaissance, Anglo-Saxon and Middle English. Their combined collection, known as the Harleian Collection, is now held by the British Library. Compiled and edited by Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer, and William Oldys, an English antiquarian and bibliographer. Retaining the original single page of publisher's advertisements to the rear.