THOMSON JAMES Liberty A Poem [title taken from half titles]

Sale 2229 - Lot 125

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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

GIFT FROM THOMAS HOLLIS TO JONATHAN MAYHEW [THOMSON, JAMES.] Liberty. A Poem [title taken from half-titles]. 5 parts in one volume. 4to, contemporary vellum-backed marbled boards, spine defective, front cover loose; first part browned, scattered foxing elsewhere; uncut. London: A. Millar, 1735-36

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First edition of the parts, which appeared serially; regular-paper copies, with price on titles. "This whiggish historical narrative traces the rise and fall of liberty in ancient Greece and Rome and in modern Europe until its perfection in England at the revolution of 1688. The poem ends, however, as it had begun, among the ruins of Rome, with an implicit warning that luxury and political corruption might ruin even Britain" (ODNB). Foxon T186, T191, T194, T196, T198.
Antient and Modern Italy Compared. viii, 37, [3] pages, including final ad leaf. 1735 Greece. [6], [9]-42 pages. Stains on title, last page heavily soiled. 1735 Rome. [4], [9]-48 pages. 1735 Britain. 63, [1] pages. 1736 The Prospect. 38, [2] pages, including final ad leaf. 1736.
Interesting association copy, with the following inscription on the first half-title: "Jonathan Mayhew's, the Gift of Thomas Hollis, Esq., F.R.S. 1760." Hollis (1720-74) was a Whig political propagandist who sought to further the cause of English liberty by disseminating relevant literature in England and America. His principal American correspondent was the Boston Congregationalist minister Mayhew (1720-66), an outspoken advocate of religious and political freedom and leading opponent of the Stamp Act.
Accompanied by: [Green, Joseph, attributed to.] An Eclogue sacred to the Memory of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, who departed this Life July 9th, Anno Salutis Humanae 1766. 16 pages. 4to, completely disbound; paper fragile, foxed and dampstained, title cropped in upper margin (with loss of the word "An") and missing small triangular piece from blank outer margin. Boston: Thomas and John Fleet, [1766]. First edition. Evans 10325.