BURNET, Gilbert. Bishop Burnet's History Of His Own Time. Vol. I. From the Restoration of King Charles II to the Settlement of King William and Queen Mary at the Revolution: To Which is prefixed a summary Recapitulation of Affairs in Church and State fro…

BURNET, Gilbert. Bishop Burnet's History Of His Own Time. Vol. I. From the Restoration of King Charles II to the Settlement of King William and Queen Mary at the Revolution: To Which is prefixed a summary Recapitulation of Affairs in Church and State fro…BURNET, Gilbert. Bishop Burnet's History Of His Own Time. Vol. I. From the Restoration of King Charles II to the Settlement of King William and Queen Mary at the Revolution: To Which is prefixed a summary Recapitulation of Affairs in Church and State from King James I. to the Restoration in the year 1660 [volume II:] Vol. II. From the Revolution to the Conclusion of the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht, in the Reign of Queen Anne. To which is added, the

BURNET, Gilbert. Bishop Burnet's History Of His Own Time. Vol. I. From the Restoration of King Charles II to the Settlement of King William and Queen Mary at the Revolution: To Which is prefixed a summary Recapitulation of Affairs in Church and State from King James I. to the Restoration in the year 1660 [volume II:] Vol. II. From the Revolution to the Conclusion of the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht, in the Reign of Queen Anne. To which is added, the Author's life, by the Editor. London: Printed for Thomas Ward in the Inner-Temple Lane [volume II:] Printed for the editor, by Joseph Downing in Bartholomew-Close, and Henry Woodfall in the Strand. 1724-1734.

Two volumes, folio. Contemporary worn and partly restored full calf, spines with raised bands and contrasting lettering-pieces; pp. [xvi], 836; [xxii], 360, 357-765; title pages with woodcut vignettes, woodcut head- and tail-pieces; occasional spotting, the final six leaves of volume one with foxing to upper margins and small flaws, the final 55 pages of volume two with ink spots to outer margins; otherwise clean internally.

First edition, edited and published posthumously by the author's sons, one of the most important historical narratives of the period. Burnet (1643-1715) was Bishop of Salisbury, and had been at the centre of some events of the Restoration, gained the favour of King Charles II, advised him during the Popish plot of 1678, a fictitious conspiracy. Upon the succession of the Roman Catholic King James II in 1685, Burnet went into exile on the Continent, and became a confidant of both William and Mary. When William's fleet set sail for England in October 1688, Burnet was made the future King's chaplain. Gilbert Burnet, frequently involved in high politics and sometimes in exile, was perfectly placed to write a history of the turbulent times in Britain after the Commonwealth. His work has the authority of an eyewitness, whilst aiming at impartiality.

Provenance: At the end of volume two contemporary manuscript entry on title-page verso: "The original manuscript of both volumes of this history will be deposited in the Cotton Library by T. Burnett", as sometimes the case; both volumes with ownership inscriptions by Heaton Wilkes, dated 1759 to front fly-leaf, volume two with ownership inscription of George Tate, dated 1836 and the note "Born Jan - 11- 1805" underneath, this repeated upside-down at the end of the same volume. Heaton Wilkes (1727-1803) was the son of a Clerkenwell distiller, who ruined his father's business in 1779. His older brother John was the famous 18th-century radical and writer. George Tate (1805-1871) was a Northumberland topographer, antiquarian and naturalist.

ESTC T144688.

SKU: 2124480