1874 - 1877 The History of England From the Ascension of James the Second With Memoir and Portrait Volumes I - V and The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay Volumes I & II

Description

Fine Binding, Leather Binding

Bound in half leather and marbled paper-covered boards, with gilt lettering and spine decoration.

Volume V of 'The History of England' is 'Edited by his Sister, Lady Trevelyan'.

There is a 'Bound by Mudie' ink stamp on the front free-endpaper of each volume.

There is a nameplate for Reginald Brett on the front pastedown of each volume.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, PC, 1800 – 1859, was a British poet, historian and Whig politician and one of the two Members of Parliament for Edinburgh. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history. Macaulay’s life was extensive, with careers in the legal profession, in politics, especially India, in literature and in history.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes him as a sensitive man, who hid a distaste of politics “behind a touchy independence”, whose impact was most felt on “issues like Indian administration and copyright laws” where his specialist knowledge helped sway votes. His ministerial work “bored him”. Macaulay was a literary man at the core, preferring drama and epic poetry to the banal of the everyday. He was “never happier than in his study engaging in a dialogue with his favourite authors”.


Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, GCVO, KCB, PC, DL, 1852 – 1930, was a historian and Liberal politician in the United Kingdom. Behind the scenes, he influenced many pre-World War I reforms carried out by Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith. Brett was offered many public offices, including the Viceroyalty of India and the Secretaryship for War, but declined. As a historian, Lord Esher, amongst others, published works on King Edward VII and Lord Kitchener.