WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, BART

1720. (SWIFT, Jonathan, ed.) TEMPLE, William. WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, BART.: To Which Is Prefix'd Some Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. London: A. Churchill, T. Goodwin, J. Knapton., et al., 1720. 2 Volumes. [xii] 480 pp.; [viii], 585 pp. Frontispiece portrait in Vol. 1. Folio, worn contemporary leather, joints cracked, but a solid set. Early ink ownership on title-pages. William Temple (1628-1699) was an English statesman deeply involved in the international events of his day. Jonathan Swift worked as Temple's secretary the last ten years of Temple's life. During that time Temple helped Swift with the revision of the `Tale of a Tub', though it was not published until 1704. After Temple's death, from 1700-1709, Swift published many of Temple's letters, memoirs, and miscellanea, and supplied prefaces to them (Teerink 469, 472, 473, 474, 475). They are collected here in the WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE (Teerlink 477). Upon its publication in 1704, as part of the prolegomena to Swift's `Tale of a Tub', Temple was immortalized as the hero of the 'Battle of the Books.' (J. D. Davies, `Temple, Sir William, baronet (1628-1699)', Oxford DNB, online edn, May 2009).