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'A New Edition' (So to speak, these books were published in 1805). I know there is a saying about real estate that repeats the word Location. If you're looking for this title and you want a really good-looking set you probably want to stop on these volumes because the particular appeal of them is definitely Condition, Condition, Condition. Take a look at the photographs. They will make the point better than I. Do the covers have any wear? A vertical line of scuffing on the front adjacent to the spine on Volume I and just a bit of the same at the corners. You can see the end papers without seeing the end papers. They look like the triangular center of the covers. The covers, by the way, are all leather. The top page edge is gilt. The middle and bottom edges are deckled, rough-edged. Both volumes have white ribbons. Both volumes are very solidly bound. The books are square, straight, tight and very well-bound. Many of the pages are quite white, yes white. Figure that one out. Other pages have very slight tanning. There is occasional foxing/spotting. Where it is found it is quite light and mild. I think the majority of the pages don't have any foxing/spotting. You'll see a little more of it on the illustrations, perhaps because of the tissue guards? Although the tissue guards themselves do not appear to be affected ( the frontispiece tissue guard on Volume II has a bit). And as far as I can see, no guarantee, the tissue guards are present in front of all of the illustrations. They are also in excellent condition. The general condition of the pages is very good. You'll find a very occasional spot of soiling, not much. There is a penciled '212' on the last page of both volumes. Makes you wonder whether this was a limited edition but I don't have any information on that. There is a shadow image of the square framing of the frontispiece on its verso page in Volume I. On the second front end paper of Volume I a previous bookseller penciled in a few words I can't read and then '2 vols. Fine untrimmed copy with many portraits on copper'. The penciling is very light. No one has written their name, and I didn't see any other writing, anywhere in the book. There aren't any markings. There aren't any attachments. If there any creases they weren't apparent when I scrolled through the volumes. I probably should've listed these books prior to the holidays. They are gift quality. Nevertheless, here they are. From Wikipedia: Letters of Junius (or Junius: Stat nominis umbra) is a collection of private and open letters critical of the government of King George III from an anonymous polemicist (Junius), as well as other letters in-reply from people to whom Junius had written between 1769 and 1772. The collection was published in two volumes in 1772 by Henry Sampson Woodfall, the owner and editor of a London newspaper, the Public Advertiser. The collection includes 69 letters, 29 to the Printer of the Public Advertiser originally intended for public readership, with the remaining 40 to individuals, then made public. It included letters written by Philo Junius, who, some say, was Junius himself. Several unauthorised editions were published before 1772, and many others afterwards. The 1772 Woodfall edition, however, was believed to have been arranged by Junius, and includes the opening "Dedication to the English Nation" in which Junius expresses his desire to educate the public and thanks them for their support. In the "Preface" he grants ownership and copyright of the letters to Woodfall. Woodfall was tried in 1770 before Lord Mansfield for printing the Letters; the contention of the Attorney-General, de Grey, was that it constituted seditious libel. The jury returned a verdict of "guilty of printing and publishing only." Woodfall was defended by Serjeant Glynn and Mr. Lee; the Solicitor-General was Thurlow. Mansfield decided in favour of a mistrial, and Woodfall went free. John Almon, a bookseller, and John Miller, a printer, were tried.
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