History Of The War In The Peninsula And In The South Of France, From The Year 1807 To The Year 1814…

London: Thomas & William Boone, 1832-40., 1832. 6 Volumes. 8vo. with half-titles in Vols. I-II. 55 engraved plates incl. 1 map, 1 diagram & 53 of battle plans. later half chagrin, gilt backs (foxing to plates & neighbouring leaves). Second Edition of Vols. I-III and First Editions of Vols. IV-VI of this "classic of the English language." (DNB) "It is commended to the general reader no less by an impartial admiration for the heroes on both sides than by the spontaneity of its style. Its accuracy was the more firmly established by the inevitable attacks of actors in the scenes described, who thought the parts they had played undervalued." (Ibid.) "As a military historian Sir William Napier is incomparably superior to any other English writer…[He] always wrote as if he was burning with an inextinguishable desire to express what he was feeling, which gives his style a peculiar spontaneity, and yet he rewrote the first volume of his History no less than six times. His descriptions of sieges and of battles are admirable by themselves, and his analyses of the peculiarly intricate Spanish intrigues are even more remarkable, while the descriptions and analyses are both lit up by flashes of political wisdom and military insight. It is to be noted that he displays the spirit of the partisan, even when most impartial, and defends his opinions, even when most undoubtedly true, as if he were arguing some controverted question…The portraits of Sir John Moore and Colonel M’Leod, and the last paragraphs descriptive of the storming of Badajoz, may be taken as examples of his great natural eloquence." (Encyc. Britannica, 11th Edn.).