Nothing definite is known of the terms on which the author parted with the work to his publishers, but it is thought to have been sold outright. It is estimated that Strahan paid five hundred pounds for the first edition, and that he published later editions at half profit. The selling price of the first edition was £1 16s. The edition was exhausted in six months, but the number of copies is unknown. Beginning as a printer, in which capacity we have already seen him in connection with Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, Strahan rose rapidly to eminence as a publisher, figuring prominently in the ventures of Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, Blackstone, and Blair. He introduced into his dealings with his clients amenities unknown before. His pecuniary successes, as in this case, enabled him to set up the coach which Dr. Johnson said was a credit to literature. Quarto. COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _6 ll., 510 pp._ Volume II: _2 ll., 587 pp._ EDWARD GIBBON (1737-1794) 58. The | History | Of The | Decline And Fall | Of The | Roman Empire. | By Edward Gibbon, Eſq; | Volume The First. | [Quotation] London: | Printed For W. Strahan; And T. Cadell, In The Strand. | MDCCLXXVI. [--MDCCLXXXVIII] We are fortunate in having an account of the publication of this work written by Gibbon himself. In June, 1775, he says: "The volume of my history, which had been somewhat delayed by the novelty and tumult of a first session, was now ready for the press. After the perilous adventure had been declined by my timid friend Mr. Elmsley, I agreed, on very easy terms, with Mr. Thomas Cadell, a respectable bookseller, and Mr. William Strahan, an eminent printer; and they undertook the care and risk of the publication, which derived more credit from the name of the shop than from that of the author. The last revisal of the proofs was submitted to my vigilance; and many blemishes of style, which had been invisible in the manuscript, were discovered and corrected in the printed sheet. So moderate were our hopes, that the original impression had been stinted to five hundred, till the number was doubled by the prophetic taste of Mr. Strahan. During this awful interval I was neither elated by the ambition of fame, nor depressed by the apprehension of contempt. My diligence and accuracy were attested by my own conscience...."