A General History of the World, From the Creation to the Present Time. Including All the Empires, Kingdoms, and States; their Revolutions, Forms of Government, Laws, Religions, Customs and Manners; the Progress of their Learning, Arts, Sciences, Commerce and Trade; Together with Their Chronology, Antiquities, Public Buildings, and Curiosities of Nature and Art. With A Complete Index to the General History of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time [13 vols]

8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 1764-1767. No edition listed, no known editions earlier than 1764. Date of index volume is obviously false as the last volume of did not appear until 1767. Original calf boards with outer edges dentelle, new calf spines with new spine labels and gilt detailing. Red speckled edges. Numerous hand coloured engraved folding maps in colour and B&W plates. xvi, 551 pp., [9] plates (4 fold-outs), [3] folding maps; 563 pp., [3] plates (1 fold-out), [2] folding maps; 531 pp., [2] plates (1 fold-out); [1] folding map; 567 pp., [1] folding map; 496 pp.; 512 pp.; 525 pp.; 493 pp.; 462 pp., [2] folding maps; 476 pp. [1] folding map; 501 pp.; 633 pp.; [~244 pp. unpaged index volume]. General wear to boards and edges. Some staining to edges of text blocks. General damp staining and foxing to interior commensurate with age. A few printing errors to page numbers. Occasional small perforations to pages, mostly in top margins. Sporadic paper repairs to pages and maps. A remarkable and rare complete set, beautifully revived by a professional binder. An exceedingly fine set for any collector or scholar. William Guthrie [1708-1770] made his reputation in London as a political writer, and he wrote several works on many topics, including those covering the history of England (History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to 1688, 1744; Complete List of the English Peerage, ) and Scotland (A General History of Scotland, 1767-8). Guthrie is more than once referred to by Johnson in terms of some respect. [Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen; Boswell's Life of Johnson] Emanuel Bowen [1694?-1767] was a Welsh map engraver who became Royal Mapmaker to both King George II of Great Britain and Louis XV of France. His maps were noted for their high level of detail and decoration. Ten of his maps adorn and enhance this set.…