A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy

RARE book containing all four volumes of "A Sentimental Journey", and "A Political Romance". Irish-born English author Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) wrote and first published the "A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy" in 1768 which immediately became extremely popular and helped establish travel writing as one of the dominant genres of the second half of the 18th century. "A Sentimental Journey" ends quite abruptly after its two first volumes, mid-sentence in fact, with the promise of two volumes to follow. This plan was interrupted by Sterne's death. John Hall-Stevenson, a friend of Sterne's, attempted to complete the work. Two volumes containing the continuation were published in 1769 and this rare 1774 edition includes all four volumes. 110x180mm. 328 pages. Seemingly original brown leather Hardcover. Gilt ribbed spine. Cover rubbed. and bumped on corners. Cover corners and spine edges bumped and peeling. Spine heavily rubbed and wrinkled. Inner cover and whitepages age-stained. Few pages slightly age-stained. Few pages slightly dog-eared. Rear whitepage fore edge slightly torn. Pages yellowing and wavy. [SUMMARY]: This extremely rare edition of the classic book is in a surprisingly good and clean condition considering its age.