1821 History of the Persecutions Endured by the Protestants of the South of France, and More Especially of the Department of the Gard, During the Years 1814, 1815, 1816, &c.

Description

First Edition, Folding Maps, Leather Binding, Very Scarce

Illustrated with a folding partially hand coloured map.

This very scarce first edition contain Wilks's two volumes bound together. This copy, however, lacks the title page of the second volume. The following two leaves - the contents pages of the second volume - have been bound at the start of the work directly after the contents pages of the first volume. In this way, the text of the first and second volume follow on continuously, with no interrupting leaves.

This very scarce guide to the persecution of French protestants includes discussion of the 'great calamities that have been endured by the Protestants', with an analysis of the beginnings of the Revolution, the arrival of Louis XVIII in Paris in 1814, and Napoleon's defeat.

From the Regency library of Elizabeth Greenly, later Lady Elizabeth Coffin Greenly, with her bookplate to the front pastedown, and the inscription of Greenly, dated 1825, to the head of the title page.

Greenly kept prolific diaries from 1784 until her death in 1839 which included her responses to current events and occasions in her daily life. Among the diaries many names and anecdotes of celebrities of the time appear, including Lord Byron, Marie Atoinette, Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More. She was known to comment on customs of foreign countries to which she and her friends had travelled, and had a keen interest in scientific discoveries and advancements including medicine and archaeology.

The library contained over one thousand volumes, which show the diversity and depth of her interests and give an insight into the life of this fascinating collector.