[Cromwell, Oliver] Carlyle, Thomas.

Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches : With Elucidations. [Including a special chapter on the Irish Campaign].

First Edition. Three Volumes (complete set with the Supplement in Second Edition). London, Chapman and Hall, 1845 – 1846. Octavo (14,5 cm x 22 cm). Volume I: Frontispiece-Portrait of Cromwell, engraved by Francis Holl, with Cromwell’s facsimile – signature, XII, 522 pages / Volume II: XIV, 692 pages / [Volume III] Supplement to the First Edition: XVIII, 224 pages plus c. 230 empty pages for annotations and notes, which were left empty by the 19th century owner. Hardcover / Stunning, original 18th century full calf with gilt lettering and original spine-labels. Marbled Endpapers matched with marbled edges all around. Strengthened and restored bindings in splendid and firm condition. Minor, repaired tear to titlepage of Volume I only. The text in excellent, very clean condition (which is unusual for this set). Very Rare in this condition !

Volume I:

Anti-Dryasdust / Of the Biographies of Oliver / Of the Cromwell Kindred / Events in Oliver’s Biography / Of Oliver’s Letters and Speeches / Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches including Letters during the Campaign in Ireland (1649) / Letters by Cromwell to Presdient Bradshaw (Dublin, 1649), To Governor Taaf (Ross, 1649) / Accont of Gaining of Ross / To Hon. W. Lenthall (1649) about Proceedings in Munster: Cork, Youghal, Baltimore, Castlehaven etc. [including a letter from 14th November, 1649 in which i talk about Colonel Townsend aboard, having been a very active instrument for the return of both, Cork and Youghal to their obedience″

Volume II:

Letters regarding: War with Scotland / Battle of Dunbar / The Little Parliament (1651-1653) / First Protectorate Parliament (1654) / The Major Generals (1655-1656) / Jamaica / The Disaffected in Ireland / Can sell Newhall / Dangers in Ireland Second Protectorate Parliament (1657-1658) / Kingship / Case of James Nayler / Conference with the Committee of Ninety-nine in regard to the Title of the King / Perils of the Nation / Perils of the Protestant Interest in Europe at large / Death of the Protector / Index

Supplement:

The Supplement is a first edition but also includes a “Preface to the Second Edition”. This supplement-volume adds Letters to Volume I and II including Letters about:

Surrender of Berwick and Carlisle/ Essex in Cornwall / Summons to Dundak / Capture of Wexford / To Lord Wharton (Cork, 1649) about Wharton’s Doubts / Letter to Hon. T.Scott (Ross, 1649) about “The Vote of Lands to Lieut.-Gen. Jones – Lord Broghill” / Summons to Cahir / Summons to Kilkenny / Fatherly Advices: Raleigh’s History / Inchgarvie surrendered / Letter to Lieut.-Gen. Fleetwood about “Difference between Love and Fear in matters of Religion” / Letter to Downhall / At Ely / Letter to Cambridge with “Protestation” and “Preamble” / Gainsborough Fight Letter to Fairfax on the Action at Islip-Bridge and Bletchington / Battle of Naseby – Two Letters concerning Ely / Letter on behalf of Young Cholmely / Correspondence with the Mayor of Waterford / Exchange of Prisoners – Renegado Wogan / Vowel’s Plot / Penruddock’s Plot / New-England / Last Royalist Plot etc.


Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.

Born of peasant parents in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Carlyle attended the University of Edinburgh where he excelled in mathematics, inventing the Carlyle circle. After finishing the arts course, he prepared to become a minister in the Burgher Church while working as a schoolmaster. He quit these and several other endeavours before settling on literature, writing for the Edinburgh Encyclopædia and working as a translator. He found initial success as a disseminator of German literature, then little-known to English readers, through his translations, his Life of Friedrich Schiller (1825), and his review essays for various journals. His first major work was a novel entitled Sartor Resartus (1833–34). After relocating to London, he became famous with his French Revolution (1837), which prompted the collection and reissue of his essays as Miscellanies. Each of his subsequent works, from On Heroes (1841) to History of Frederick the Great (1858–65) and beyond, were highly regarded throughout Europe and North America. He founded the London Library, contributed significantly to the creation of the National Portrait Galleries in London and Scotland, was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1865, and received the Pour le Mérite in 1874, among other honours.

Carlyle’s corpus spans the genres of history, the critical essay, social commentary, biography, fiction, and poetry. His innovative writing style, known as Carlylese, greatly influenced Victorian literature and anticipated techniques of postmodern literature. While not adhering to any formal religion, he asserted the importance of belief and developed his own philosophy of religion. He preached “Natural Supernaturalism”, the idea that all things are “Clothes” which at once reveal and conceal the divine, that “a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one”, and that duty, work and silence are essential. He postulated the Great Man theory, a philosophy of history which contends that history is shaped by exceptional individuals. He viewed history as a “Prophetic Manuscript” that progresses on a cyclical basis, analogous to the phoenix and the seasons. Raising the “Condition-of-England Question” to address the impact of the Industrial Revolution, his political philosophy is characterised by medievalism, advocating a “noble Chivalry of Work” led by “Captains of Industry”. He attacked utilitarianism as mere atheism and egoism, criticised laissez-faire political economy as the “Dismal Science”, and rebuked “big black Democracy” while championing “Heroarchy (Government of Heroes)”.

Carlyle occupied a central position in Victorian culture, being considered not only, in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the “undoubted head of English letters”, but a secular prophet. Posthumously, his reputation suffered as publications by his friend and disciple James Anthony Froude provoked controversy about Carlyle’s personal life, particularly his marriage to Jane Welsh Carlyle. His reputation further declined in the 20th century, as the onsets of World War I and World War II brought forth accusations that he was a progenitor of both Prussianism and fascism. Since the 1950s, extensive scholarship in the field of Carlyle Studies has improved his standing, and he is now recognized as “one of the enduring monuments of our literature who, quite simply, cannot be spared.” (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: 17th Century – Rare · Catalogue Irish History Six – General Irish History · Catalogue Irish History Two – Origins of Irish Identity · Cromwell · English History – Rare · English History in the 17th century · Irish History – Rare · Irish History in the 17th century · New Arrivals · Scottish History · Scottish History Rare
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 31228AB

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