The Story of Gladstone's Life [Revised and Enlarged]

London: Adam and Charles Black, Publishers, 1906. Beautifully designed leather volume. Stated Revised and Enlarged Second Edition with additional preface to this edition. Deep rich brown leather boards, ornate blind-stamped cover design at front, back with decorated borders, etc.. Spine features crisp titles on black field, five raised bands, six panels, five with iron cross and ornamentation. Protected in new clear sleeve. Very attractive. Pages near fine; speckled text block at all sides. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Features twenty-seven plates of portraits and photos, historical places, etc. Also, eighteen partial-page illustrations included in text throughout. A near fine, sharp example. William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1889), four-time Prime Minister of Great Britain, dominated the Liberal Party for thirty years, but ultimately divided it over the issue of Irish Home Rule which he championed. He brought to parliamentary politics a moral fervor which made him the personification of the Victorian Age, but which also challenged imperialist assumptions. In this biography, Justin McCarthy, presents a Gladstone still vividly remembered, rising to speak in the House of Commons among a host of illustrious contemporaries, including Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Palmerston, and Sir Robert Peel, or expounding upon his views to a bored and baffled Queen Victoria, who called him a "ridiculous, wild, and incomprehensible old fanatic". Justin McCarthy, the author of this biography, was born in County Cork, and began his career as a journalist at the age of eighteen. His proclivity, though, was towards literature. His earliest publications were novels, some of which, such as A Fair Saxon (1873), Dear Lady Disdain (1875), Miss Misanthrope (1878), Donna Quixote (1879), attained considerable popularity. His most important work is his History of Our Own Times, which treats the period between Queen Victoria's accession and her Diamond Jubilee. Delightfully written, these volumes form a brilliant narrative. McCarthy also wrote 'The Story of Gladstone', this complementary biography of William Ewart Gladstone. Includes detailed index. Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. 454 pages. Insured post.. Second Edition. Full-Leather. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.