Edward Gibbon

Robert Mankin (Université Paris VII Denis Diderot)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 27 Apr 1737
Died 16 Jan 1794
Activity 1757-1794

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Historian / Chronicler

Other

Autobiographer

Resources

Gibbon's Works

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Engraving by William Holl the Younger after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1853. Courtesy The Walter Scott Digital Archive, Edinburgh University Library.

Edward Gibbon is known primarily as the author of one great book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788), a book that is for a variety of reasons—historical, historiographic, stylistic and cultural—so very great that we may be tempted to speak of Gibbon in absolute terms as England’s first great historian.

Edward Gibbon is known primarily as the author of one great book,

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

(1776-1788), a book that is for a variety of reasons—historical, historiographic, stylistic and cultural—so very great that we may be tempted to speak of Gibbon in absolute terms as…

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3602 words

Citation: Mankin, Robert. "Edward Gibbon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1726, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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