A General History of Scotland from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time - Ten-Volume Set William Guthrie

A General History of Scotland from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, by William Guthrie. Ten-volume set. London, Printed for the Author, by A. Hamilton; And sold by Robinson and Roberts, in Paternoster-Row. 1767-8. First edition. Hardback. Quarto/4to. Each volume measures around 5 1/4" x 8" x 1 1/8 - 1 5/8". Full speckled calf. Raised bands. Gilt decoration to spines and gilt-blocked titles, with brown title labels and dark burgundy volume labels. Tooled decoration to board edges. All page edges speckled red. Contains frontispiece in first volume and a number of portrait plates of monarchs throughout the volumes. Also contains foldout map of Scotland in second volume and a foldout illustration of the West Front of the Abbey of Holyrood House to the eighth volume. Ex-library books, containing typical markings including white library numbering to some spines, labels to some front pastedowns, and stamps to front free endpapers, title pages and final pages and occasionally elsewhere. Leather title labels on spine chipped and in a number of cases absent. A little pencil writing to endpapers. Scuffing and marking to binding, some tearing, chipping and some loss of gilt detail. Other signs of wear, rubbing at edges and on hinges. Bumped and torn corners and some chipping and loss on hinges and to heads and tails of spines. Some cracking to hinges but binding quite firm. The odd dog-eared and creased page. Some scuffing, light foxing and other marking to page edges but quite clean for age. A little tearing to the odd page and front endpapers to first volume only loosely attached, with some strain and looseness to other pages in the books. Some toning, foxing, soiling and staining throughout but reasonably clean for age, with no underlining, marginalia, etc. A scarce and attractive set. See pictures for further information. About the author: GUTHRIE, WILLIAM (1708-1770), miscellaneous writer, the son of an episcopalian clergyman, was born at Brechin, Forfarshire, in 1708. He was educated at Aberdeen University with a view to becoming a parochial schoolmaster, but he settled in London in 1730, and tried literature. He was first engaged in reporting and arranging parliamentary debates for the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' his reports being revised by Johnson. He gradually made a reputation as a political writer, and in 1745 received a pension of 200l. a year from the Pelham government. So considerable was his influence, and so unscrupulous were his political opinions, that he asked for and was granted a renewal of his pension by the Bute government in 1762. In 1763 he published his first book, a 'Complete List of the English Peerage.' In spite of revision by noblemen this work is inaccurate. His next work was a 'History of England from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to 1688,' 4 vols., Lond. 1744-51, which was the first attempt to base history on parliamentary records. About 1764-7 he published, along with certain collaborators 'eminent in this branch of literature,' 'A General History of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time,' in twelve volumes; this was favourably noticed in the 'Critical Review,' as it was said, by the author himself. In 1767 appeared 'A General History of Scotland,' 10 vols. 8vo. It is painstaking and vigorous, but inaccurate, particularly in the early periods. Probably his most noted book was his 'Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar' (1770), which reached numerous editions, and was translated into French in 1801. Besides translations from Quintilian (1756) and Cicero (1744-54-55-58), he also wrote 'The Friends,' a sentimental history, in two volumes (1754), and 'Remarks on English Tragedy' (1757). Guthrie is more than once referred to by Johnson in terms of some respect. He died on 9 March 1770, and was buried in Marylebone. [Source: Wikisource, taken from the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 23 - Guthrie, William (1708-1770) by William Bayne]