Stat Nominis Umbra

London: Vernor & Hood, 1801. hardcover. good. Bewick & Ridley. 2 volumes. Engraved frontispieces & title vignettes (dated 1797); in-text woodcuts by Bewick and fine stipple portraits by Ridley throughout. xxxi, 274; vi, 318, [2]pp. 8vo, contemporary speckled calf with gilt-stamped borders and spines (well-worn at spine ends; joints cracked an crudely re-enforced inside with blue paper hinges). London: Printed by T. Bensley for Vernor and Hood, et al, 1801. Some light foxing on preliminary pages but otherwise rather clean. A good only copy of this handsome edition.<br/><br/> The letters of "Junius," originally appearing in the "Public Advertiser" from November of 1768 to January of 1772, represent one of the great mysteries of English literature. No author ever claimed credit for these letters, though they were ascribed to every prominent Whig of the period... Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818), who was a clerk in the War Office when the "Junius" letters were written, is generally considered to be the mystery writer, though he denied this association to the end of his life.<br/><br/>