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including 1 double-page plate of facsimile notes, 11 maps and plans, including 2 double-page, and 3 folding. Extremities slightly rubbed, foot of spine of vol. I bumped with concomitant rumpling of leaves, inner hinges cracked but firm, small stain to foot of p. 174 of vol. I, neat repairs to folding map of the Antarctic, yet remaining a very good copy in bright cloth. ¶ Books on Ice , 7.1 for the first edition in English; Howgego III A13; Rosove 8.A2c; Taurus 70. £1,500 [155442] 3
BAGEHOT, Walter. The English Constitution. London: Chapman and Hall, 1867 “the bible of the british monarchy” First edition in book form of the most influential exposition of the English constitution, “one of the most important texts in political literature . . . Bagehot’s work is of more than English importance: it is the great defence of empirical as against theoretical politics” ( PMM ). The book was, effectively, the constitutional training manual for Elizabeth II and her predecessors. Bagehot conceptualized the constitution as split between “dignified” and “efficient” elements, the former the monarchy and parts of the aristocracy with all their associated pomp and circumstance, the latter the actual machinery of governance and power. His analysis held great sway throughout the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th, even as the role of the “dignified” elements diminished. In the absence of a written constitution, Bagehot’s study became a textbook for those who held power in the system. The book has consequently been recognized as “the bible of the British monarchy, which even George V and George VI (who were neither of them scholastically inclined) mastered word for word” (Bradford, p. 96), and the book was used extensively in Elizabeth II’s constitutional education by the Vice-Provost of Eton, Henry Marten. The work was initially published in instalments in The Fortnightly Review between 1865 and 1866, prior to publication in the present book form. Octavo. Original purple cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers panelled in blind, yellow endpapers, binder’s ticket of Virtue & Co. on rear pastedown. Housed in a dark blue cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. Spine with minimal sunning and a couple of marks, light wear at spine ends and corners, endpapers slightly discoloured, still an excellent, firm copy, unrestored in the original cloth, contents clean. ¶ Printing and the Mind of Man 358. Sarah Bradford, Elizabeth: A Biography , 2002. £9,750 [156744]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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