WARNER, Ferdinando. The History of the Rebellion and Civil-War in Ireland (With map of Ireland)

London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson, in the Strand, 1767. First edition. 4to. pp. xxiii, [1], 614. With engraved folding map. Contemporary full calf, rebacked in period style with raised bands, gilt rules and ornaments, contrasting morocco letterpiece titled in gilt; original boards with some staining and surface wear. Internally generally clean and crisp. With the engraved armorial bookplate of Blayney Townley Balfour, Esq., bearing the motto ‘Omne Solum Forti Patria’. A very good copy with an attractive Irish provenance.

Warner’s important history of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the ensuing Confederate and Cromwellian wars, covering one of the most turbulent periods of seventeenth-century Irish history. Warner (1703–1768), an English clergyman and historian, drew extensively upon contemporary documentary material and sought to examine critically the conflicting accounts of the rebellion and the controversial estimates of those killed in 1641 and its aftermath.

The provenance adds considerably to the appeal of this copy. Blayney Townley Balfour (1799–1882), whose engraved armorial bookplate appears on the pastedown, was of Townley Hall, County Louth, a distinguished Irish country house with a notable family library.

[L1 4E]