HUME, David & SMOLLETT, Tobias. The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688; together with The History of England, from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of George the Second. London: stereotyped and printed by and for A. Wilson, 1810–1812. 16 volumes.
A handsome and complete Regency-period set of Hume and Smollett's History of England, comprising Hume's history in ten volumes and Tobias Smollett's six-volume continuation, uniformly bound in contemporary green straight-grain morocco.
Of particular interest for its provenance: inscriptions repeated through the set record that the books were purchased by Captain John Kent (1782–1849) at the sale of the Vicar of Soham's effects, before descending through successive generations of the Kent family.
Captain John Kent was a Peninsular War officer who served with the 50th Regiment of Foot and 95th Rifles. His military service included the campaigns for which he subsequently received the Military General Service Medal with clasps for Roleia, Vimiera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz and Salamanca.
The stated acquisition history has unusual independent support. Other books surviving from the Kent Family Collection have been catalogued with the same tradition of having been purchased by Captain Kent at the Vicar of Soham's sale, strongly corroborating the provenance preserved in this set.
The later family inscriptions include several Kent names and are dated 22 April 1928, demonstrating that the volumes remained together within the family more than a century after their original acquisition.
An attractive combination of an important classic of Enlightenment historiography, an extensive contemporary morocco binding, and well-documented provenance to a veteran of the Peninsular War.
Hume, David. The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688. Stereotype edition, in ten volumes. London: stereotyped and printed by and for A. Wilson, Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields / Camden Town, St Pancras, 1810–1811. 10 volumes.
Smollett, Tobias. The History of England, from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of George the Second. Designed as a Continuation of Hume. Stereotype edition, in six volumes. London: stereotyped and printed by and for A. Wilson, Camden Town, St Pancras, 1811–1812. 6 volumes.
Complete in 16 volumes.
Binding
Uniform contemporary green straight-grain morocco, covers ruled in gilt with double fillet borders; spines richly gilt with horizontal rules, decorative floral and geometric tooling and gilt lettering; decorative gilt turn-ins; marbled endpapers; edges coloured red. The bindings have considerable visual presence and remain an unusually appealing matched 16-volume set.
Provenance
Captain John Kent (1782–1849), 95th Rifles, with later family inscriptions. Each volume bears a manuscript note recording substantially that: "This series was bought by Capt. John Kent (1782–1849) at the Vicar of Soham's sale." Further Kent-family names appear beneath, together with the date 22 April 1928.
Captain Kent was born at Soham, Cambridgeshire, and served during the Napoleonic Wars, including service with the 50th Foot and 95th Rifles. He fought in the Peninsular campaign and was subsequently awarded the Military General Service Medal with five clasps.
The account of Kent's acquisition of books at the Vicar of Soham's sale is independently corroborated by other volumes subsequently dispersed from the Kent Family Collection, including a set of Mrs Inchbald's Collection of Farces carrying the same ownership history.
The precise identity of the Vicar whose library was dispersed has not been conclusively established, and we have therefore deliberately not attributed the sale to a particular clergyman.
Condition
Complete in sixteen volumes. Internally notably clean, bright and fresh for the period, with strong impressions on good-quality paper and only occasional minor spotting or handling marks. Text blocks firm. Marbled endpapers well preserved.
Bindings remain sound and attractive overall, but with rubbing, scuffing and surface abrasion to the green morocco, more noticeably to several boards; extremities and corners rubbed, with occasional small losses or wear at spine ends and joints. Gilt remains substantially bright and the spines present particularly well when shelved. Later Kent-family provenance inscriptions to the endpapers of each volume. No attempt has been made to disguise the age-related wear to the bindings.
Bibliographic Note
David Hume's History of England was among the most influential historical works of the eighteenth century and remained a standard history of England well into the nineteenth. Tobias Smollett's continuation carries the narrative from the Revolution of 1688 to the death of George II in 1760.
This A. Wilson stereotype edition illustrates the changing economics of book production at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The unusually elaborate contemporary morocco binding of this copy indicates that, despite the edition's comparatively economical method of production, this particular set was commissioned or acquired as a substantial gentleman's library set. Its subsequent association with Captain John Kent gives the volumes a particularly tangible connection with the generation that fought the Napoleonic Wars.
