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First edition. Complete in four volumes. viii, 580; iv, 551, [1]; iv, 571, [1]; [4], 69, [3] pp. With five folding maps or plans, on linen and partly in color. Bound in publisher's brown ribbed embossed cloth, spines gilt, pale yellow endpapers. Presented in cool custom fitted black half-morocco box, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands. Good condition overall: cloth worn along edges with some small tears, hinges weak, spines darkened. Rear board of first volume detached. Internally better, bright and clean, with a single plate loose. From the collection of actor and comedian Robin Williams. Scarce, with only eight copies found in OCLC/WorldCat and none in commerce-- especially so with appendix volume. A classic apocalyptic treatise foretelling the doom of the world. In 1863 authorship was attributed to a Mr. Beale, "a Master of Arts at the University of Cambridge" by M. Baxter (see McIver The End of the World: An Annotated Bibliography 334). It examines political and international signs of the times (earthquakes, the Crimean War, the comet), and remarks on their similarities with those that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. Harkening back to the failed revolutions of 1848 the author decries atheism, communism, socialism, and "red republicanism" as instruments of Satan. A fascinating, sweeping attempt to link biblical history with the end of the world. The folding maps include "The Seats of the Lost Ten Tribes," "Jerusalem and its Environs," "The Land of Israel According to the Covenant with Abraham," "The Ground Plan of the Temple of Ezekiel," and "The Holy Oblation." Halkett Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous English Literature p. 140. Seller Inventory # 140945762
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