(ST14729l) THE LIFE OF THE FIRST EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, MR. B. MARTYN, DR. KIPPIS.
THE LIFE OF THE FIRST EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.
THE LIFE OF THE FIRST EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.

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THE LIFE OF THE FIRST EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.

(London: Richard Bentley, 1836). 220 x 135 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 3/8"). Without half titles. Two volumes. Edited by G. Wingrove Cooke, Esq. FIRST EDITION.

Contemporary purple pebble-grain morocco, covers with thick and thin blind-stamped frames surrounding scrolling gilt centerpiece featuring tulips and floral tendrils, raised bands with gilt diamond roll, gilt in compartments with triple fillet border and curling horn cornerpieces, all edges gilt. Frontispiece engraving of Anthony Ashley Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury. ◆Corners slightly bumped, minor scratches on covers and spines (masked by refurbishing), a bit of foxing on frontispiece and title page, but internally quite clean and fresh, in pleasing bindings.

This is an attractively bound biography of the well-born and well-connected Anthony Ashley Cooper (1621-83), first Earl of Shaftesbury, whose turbulent political career spanned the English Civil War and Restoration. Viewed by John Locke as "a strenuous Defender [and] vigilant Preserver [of] Liberty in both Civil, and Ecclesiastical affairs" but dismissed by many as an opportunist, Cooper was, according to DNB, "a wily operator who was not above saying or doing things for calculated political effect or abandoning former friends and allies as he mapped out a new direction for himself. Yet he clearly was a man of principles, who throughout much of his long political career was prepared to make personal sacrifices in pursuit of what he believed to be the public interest." The present sympathetic biography relied on original documents in the possession of Shaftesbury's descendants.
(ST14729l)

Price: $750.00