***SUPERB*** HIGHEST QUALITY SET & THE ONLY COMPLETE SET IVE EVER SEEN WITH WITH ALL VOLUMES 1ST EDITIONS - IN UNIFORM 3/4 MOROCCO ROOT & SON SIGNED FINE PERIOD BINDING WITH OVER 1,000 ILLUSTRATIONS! OVERALL CONDITION: VG+ to NF 1862-67 - The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World or, The History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldea, Babylon, Media, and Persia. Collected and Illustrated from Ancient and Modern Sources by George Rawlinson, Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford. Published by John Murray in London. Volume I: Chaldaea & Assyria - 1862 1st edition Volume II: Assyria (continued) - 1864 1st edition Volume III: Media & Babylonia - 1865 1st edition Volume IV: Persia - 1867 1st edition Published by Longmans, Green & Co. Volume V: Parthia - 1872 1st edition 6th Great Oriental Monarchy Volume VI: Sassanian or New Persian - 1876 1st edition 7th Great Oriental Monarchy All six volumes are TRUE 1ST EDITIONS - collated and complete minus publisher ads. Thousands of beautiful illustrations: within text woodcuts, engravings, full-page plates, many fold-out maps, hand-colored frontispieces in volumes V & VI. Partially hand-colored maps in volumes IV-VI. Octavo, 9 x 6. This magnificent set was bound and signed by Root & Son in London - a highly sought after Victorian era bindery which consistently produced luxurious fine bindings and trade editions. In red 3/4 leather over marbled paper ruled in gilt. The spine features five gilded raised bands with ornate gilded compartment lettering and emblems. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers matched with boards. Sewn-in satin ribbon placeholder. Signed by Root & Son on top left on first blank front flyleaf. A refined set of luxurious quality! ABOUT THE BOOK SET The complete set (all six volumes) took decades to research, write and publish and was soon recognized as one of the most important, comprehensive and historically accurate works on the great ancient empires of the East (what we now recognize as the Middle East and surrounding areas) - Chaldaea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Parthia and Sassanian. George Rawlinson (23 November 1812 6 October 1902) was a British scholar, historian and Christian theologian. His chief publications are his translation of the History of Herodotus (in collaboration with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir John Gardner Wilkinson), 185860; The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, 186267; The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy (Parthian), 1873; The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy (Sassanian), 1875; Manual of Ancient History, 1869; Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament, 1871; The Origin of Nations, 1877; History of Ancient Egypt, 1881; Egypt and Babylon, 1885; History of Phoenicia, 1889; Parthia, 1893; Memoir of Major-General Sir HC Rawlinson, 1898. CONDITION DESCRIPTION: All six volumes are in VG+ to NF antiquarian condition and seemingly UNREAD post-rebinding by Root & Son. All volumes are strongly bound with square spines, firm hinges and joints and tight pages. Many sections of the volumes are extremely tight and appear to be unopened and unread. Nearly all gilding is intact. The spines are sun-toned a lovely darker shade of red. The boards, joints, corners and edges are clean with light to moderate rubbing. Volumes II & V have a few areas of darkened leather on their spine. Page edges and perimeter of interior pages lightly toned. The interior is remarkably clean and bright with no writing, ex libris marks or stamps and with bright pages mostly free of foxing - just a scarce spot on occasion with the exception of some plates/tissue guards which are more heavily foxed. Very few smudges or bent corners or creases. A map or two show signs of professional reinforcement/tape repair on their blind sides. More pictures available upon request. The volumes will ship fully insured with signature required upon receipt for your protection. I have bought and sold books and art on eBay for over a decade and have a 100% satisfa
