MAXWELL, W.H. Esq. History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798; with Memoirs of the Union, and Emmett’s Insurrection in 1803.

With numerous illustrations drawn and engraved by George Cruikshank. London: Baily Brothers, 1845. First edition. pp. vii, [1], 477. Handsomely bound in full crimson straight-grained morocco The volume is handsomely bound in full red morocco, the covers plain but finely grained, with a neatly panelled spine divided into panels by raised bands. Spine lettered in gilt, with the imprint London 1845 at heel; blue endpapers; blue and gold endbands; top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Bookplate of the noted Limerick collector, David Whelan (father of Bill of Riverdance fame) on front endpapers; board edges ruled in gilt; turn-ins gilt. Original wrappers bound in (two with partial loss). Occasional foxing to endpapers. The leather is clean and supple, showing only light rubbing at the extremities, and the binding is firm and well-preserved, a very attractive nineteenth-century binding. A very good copy.
Maxwell’s History of the Rebellion is considered pro-establishment, but nevertheless it is an important work with twenty-seven fine illustrations, mostly by Cruikshank, depicting the scenes of battles, massacres, executions etc. He wrote a total of twenty books in all. He died near Edinburgh in destitute circumstances in 1850.

[CAT 163]