Beschreibung:

BURKE, EDMUND. Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London relative to that Event. In a Letter intended to have been sent to a Gentleman in Paris, 1790 [ with :] An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, in consequence of some late Discussions in Parliament, relative to the Reflections on the French Revolution, 1791; both London: Printed for J. Dodsley. 2 vols. in one, 8vo, 215 x 130mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/8in.), contemporary dark green straight-grained morocco, covers with single gilt fillet border, smooth spine with double gilt fillets forming six compartments, gilt-lettered in two, board edges with single gilt fillet, gilt Greek key roll turn-ins, g.e., upper inner joint cracked, first work with a few slight stains, second work lacking leaf G3; cloth case. FIRST EDITIONS, (first issue of first work, with title as reproduced in Todd, plate 5, press figure * on p. 354, ornamental flower on A2 pointing to right), PRESENTATION COPIES, each inscribed "Mrs Crewe From the Author" in Burke's hand (first inscription, on title, cropped by the binder; second inscription on half-title). First work : Grolier English 63; PMM 239; Rothschild 522; Todd Burke 53a. Second work : Rothschild 523; Todd 56a. Frances Anne, Lady Crewe (d. 1818), the recipient of this volume, was the daughter of Fulke Greville, envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria. Known as one of the most beautiful women of her time, she entertained, both at Crewe Hall, Cheshire and at Hampstead, a host of distinguished contemporaries including Burke, Sheridan (she was the dedicatee of "School for Scandal"), Sir Joshua Reynolds (who painted her portrait at least three times), Canning, the Burneys and the Thrales. Burke rose to political prominence in the 1760s as Lord Rockingham's secretary in the Whig government that attempted to defend the American colonists against the absolutism of George III. In 1789 a common perception of the French Revolution was that a freedom and potential stability might ensue similar to that which had been achieved by war in the American Revolution. Burke was swift to point out the essential differences in the two movements: the American colonists had fought to preserve basic English liberties and institutions; the French revolutionaries wished not only to smash and eradicate the monarchy but to obliterate the most basic traditions. "[A]s the Terror grew, Burke seemed almost to be a prophet. In the eternal debate between the ideal and the practical, the latter had never had a more powerful or moving advocate, nor one whose own ideals were higher."-- Printing and the Mind of Man. Provenance : Frances Anne, Lady Crewe, inscribed as above, engraved crowned monogram booklabel, also signed on verso of upper free endleaf--Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. (sale, Christie's London, 13 June 1979, lot 91, £900, Nebenzahl).