Lot Essay
Lowndes: 'The Characteristics [have] done more harm to Revealed Religion in England than all the works on Infidelity put together .'
Details
Gay (John): Fables, 2 vols. in one, imperial 8vo, for John Stockdale, 1793 [Lowndes 870], engraved frontispiece, title and 67 plates, contemporary calf, spine gilt (extremities rubbed, upper joint slightly split) -- Shaftesbury (Anthony, Earl of): Characteristicks, 3 vols., fifth edition, 8vo, Birmingham, John Baskerville, 1773 [Lowndes 2251], engraved frontispiece and title vignettes, contemporary calf (neatly rebacked with old gilt spines laid down); and seven others. (11)