A history of the early part of the reign of James the Second; with an introductory chapter

London: Printed for William Miller, 1808. FIRST EDITION. Engraved frontispiece portrait. Contemporary calf, rebacked boards ruled in gilt; marbled endpapers; top fore-edge trimmed and dyed; despite very minor spotting on the frontispiece and title, and excellent, wide-margined uncut copy from the libraries of Bernard Gore Brett and Robert Buchanan Stewart (1829–1900) with their bookplates on the front paste-down and the small label of by J. Carss & Co., bookbinders in Glasgow on the verso of the fly-leaf. First edition. Fox began work on this text in 1799 with his large network of friends (known as Foxites) assisting with research. The book was published posthumously by Fox’s nephew, Lord Holland, who also served as editor. Fox had initially intended to treat events past the year 1688 in order to compare the virtues of William III with the failures of James II. However, as he never completed the text, the work ends at 1685. For him James’s reign represented a core issue within English culture and politics. As a Whig, his history of England as encompassed in this work reflects is an ongoing struggle between the absolutist intentions of monarchs and the struggle of their subjects to assert their liberty. Indeed, Fox he was a leading proponent of religious tolerance and individual liberty. His incisive analysis along with a detailed appendix of correspondence between Louis XIV and M. Barillon on English affairs as well as between the Earl of Sunderland and the Bishop of Oxford continues to be an important resource for historians.

Fox (1749–1806) was a prominent Whig politician and historian. His career spanned almost forty years and over that time he developed some of the most radical politics seen in Parliament. For example, as a vocal opponent of George III he dressed in the colors of George Washington’s army. He was also an abolitionist, supporter of the French Revolution, and advocated for religious tolerance. Fox was one of the most important figures in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England, and a hero among liberals and progressives.