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GIBBON, EDWARD. A Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of the . . . the Decline and Fall [etc.]. 1774

[GIBBON, EDWARD.] A Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. [4], 158, [1] pages, including half-title and final ad leaf. 8vo, later wrappers, rebacked, with foxed original front wrapper laid down; marginal browning at beginning and end; uncut; 1/4 morocco folding case. Frank J. Hogan bookplate (sale, 24 April 1945, lot 319). London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1774

  • Notes: first edition. "What shocked many of Gibbon''s readers [of the History] was the way chapters 15 and 16 demonstrated how easily that same work could support irreligious beliefs . . . Gibbon waited until 1779 to reply to his critics in a pamphlet which was immediately recognized as a classic of literary polemic: his Vindication of some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters" (ODNB). Rothschild 947.
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