8vo. Volume one, all published. [4], xcvi, [2], 415pp, [1], x. An unsophisticated copy, uncut in original publisher's two-tone paper boards, printed paper lettering-piece. Rubbing to spine with loss to head and foot, splitting to joints, chipping to lettering-piece, boards a trifle marked, corners bumped. Ink ownership inscription to FEP, lightly foxed.

Henry Grattan (1746-1820), Irish nationalist and member of the Irish House of Commons who campaigned for the legislative freedom of the Irish Parliament and opposed the Act of Union of 1800. From early age Grattan honed his natural eloquence through the study of the orators of classical antiquity, thus providing himself with a singular talent for public speaking that would be feted by his contemporaries and galvanise his position as a leading figure in the politics of Ireland - causing whig statesman Charles James Fox to dub him the 'Irish Demosthenes'