History of Civilization in England, Buckle 1857 - 1861. This three-volume set of books is titled “History Of Civilization In England”, by Henry Thomas Buckle, the first two books were published in London in MDCCCLVII [1857] by John W. Parker and the third book was published by Parker, Son, and Bourn at West Strand in London in 1861, all three were printed by Robson, Levey, and Franklyn and bound by W. Worsfold in London, and as far as we know, they are a first edition set, according to WorldCat. Henry Thomas Buckle (1821 - 1882) was an English historian and the author of an unfinished History of Civilization, a good chess player, and is sometimes called the “Father of Scientific History”. Born in Lee, London, he became a wealthy merchant and shipowner; he only had one year of formal education, when he was fourteen, and after that he became self-taught, and he was known as one of the best chess players in the world - he won the first British chess tournament in 1849 and beat some of the top players in the world in the 1850’s. In 1840 Buckle traveled to Europe with his family and had extended stays in Germany, Italy, and France. He studied the language, literature, and history of each place they visited, and Buckle taught himself to read eighteen foreign languages. During the trip, he decided to write a a great historical work, and for the next seventeen years, he spent ten hours a day towards that end. By 1851, he decided it would be a history of civilization, and he spent the next six years writing, rewriting, altering and revising the first volume. It was titled “History of Civilization in England”, the same set offered here, and was published in June 1857. Intended as a 14-volume scientific examination of the history of civilization across the globe, Buckle only completed his volumes on England and France. In “History of Civilization in England”, Buckle examines the influences of physical and mental laws on the development of history and the evolution of civilizations. He explores literature, government, religion, and politics, and he believed that through the rigorous application of scientific principles to human affairs, people would find that the social world is governed by forces and laws in the same way that the physical world is governed by the laws of physics, but his work had mixed reviews. Some people felt his ideas were really one-sided and based on preconceived notions and rash and inaccurate - he believed that there was a great division between European and non-European civilizations because in Europe, man was stronger than nature and elsewhere nature was stronger than man, and European civilization would advance because of the increasing influence of mental laws, which sounds like he had his nose up in the air about the society he lived in. William Worsfold (1856 - 1929) came from a family of bookbinders, and he was a top notch West End binder for the carriage trade (a retail business for wealthy and upper class customers), his father was also a bookbinder, and William worked in Soho from 1889 onwards. The books are 3/4 bound, with five raised bands, six gilt-ruled compartments with gilt lettering, gilt devices, and “1857” in gilt at the base of the spine on the first two books and “1861” in gilt at the base of the spine on the third book, marbled endpapers, the binder’s stamp “W. Worsfold. London” at the top of the first blank endpapers, then the title page in the first book, a page dedicated to the author’s mother, two pages of Contents, a long List of Authors Quoted (ix - xxiii), an Errata page after the List of Authors Quoted, and 450 pages of text (with footnotes), and the second book has a half-title and no title page, but starts right at page 451 and ends at page 854. The last book, which is from 1861, has a half-title and title page, a dedication page, fourteen pages called an “Analytical Table of Contents” (vii - xx), another List of Authors Quoted (xxi - xxxi) and 601 pages of text, and the the top edges are gilt for all three volumes. The first volume was probably so long it was divided into two volumes here when it was rebound by Worsfold, and apparently Worsfold never divided the 1861 book in two, even though the book is 601 pages long, and why there are three books in this two volume set. The books are 8vo. and measure 8 3/4 x 5 7/8 in. wide, with tight bindings and clean pages and text. The spines are bright, with just a tad of rubbing at the crowns and at the tips, a couple of pages with small spots in the margins in the first two books and faint spots in the margins near the beginning of the last book, a small tear on the first page and some tears at the top of a few pages toward the end of the first book, and overall a very attractive and rare first edition set at that. Only three first edition sets are offered online at the rare book website we use, ranging in price from $250 to $500, and we are starting them at a song. #193 #1567