Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn [1620-1706] by BRAY William 1736-1832 - editor - 1818

London: Conduit Street: Henry Colburn, 1818 VG, 1st ed, tall 4to, 1818, 9 pls. 2 vols in contemporary diced calf, gilt edge tooling, some marks, corners and edges lightly bumped and worn. Spines, raised bands, decorative gilt tooling, titles in gilt, edges lightly worn. Internally, gilt tooling to board edges. Vol 1, text block edges marbled blue, armorial book plate & no. to fpd (Gilman), ink no to verso fep, ink name to ffep (Gilman 1823), half title, portrait frontis, [5], (vi-ix), [1], [2] pl list errata, [1], 2-620 pp, 5 pls (some folding & 2 portraits), printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London. Vol 2, in 2 parts, 2 armorial bookplates to fpd (Gilman & Marquis Cornwallis), ink no to verso fep, ink name to fep (Gilman 1823), half title, portrait frontis, [5], (vi-viii), [3], [1], 2-335 pp, [1], 2-366 pp. Part II, (The Private Correspondence), [2] portrait frontis, [1], 2-335 pp, 4 pls (includes 3 portraits), printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, small worm holes to base of Vol 1 prelims, some light offsetting. A lovely set. (Lowndes 767.Allibone 567). Title continues: comprising his diary, from the year 1641 to 1705-6, and a selection of his familiar letters. To which is subjoined, the private correspondence between King Charles I. and his Secretary of State, Sir Edward Nicholas, whilst His Majesty was in Scotland, 1641, and at other times during the Civil War; also between Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Sir Richard Browne ... The whole now first published, from the original MSS. Evelyn, diarist and writer, who long dismissed as a virtuoso dabbler in the arts and sciences, has now come to be recognized as a scholar and participant in the reception of the new science of the seventeenth century. Over a period of more than half a century his voluminous correspondence reflected and extended the social and scientific interchange of his time. His enthusiasm for horticulture in particular, both in his own garden at Sayes Court and in his correspondence and publications, translated continental ideas into England and laid the groundwork for the English landscape garden of the eighteenth century. See ODNB.