Duke- The Druidical Temples in the County of Wilts - Edward Duke (1846) [Inscribed by Author]

Edward DUKE. The Druidical Temples in the County of Wilts. London: John Russell Smith, MDCCCXLVI [1846].  (190 x 110 mm) p. viii, 203, [2], 28 + three foldouts. Interior near fine, showing charming evidence of the pages having been cut. Some slight separation between  some gatherings. Yellow fly leaves and pastedown. Bookplate of Ernest Shackleton on front pastedown with his initials handwritten behind the bookplate. Bound in brown cloth with ornamental stamping. Gilt title on side with 5 s price. Some bubbling to cloth but not significant. Overall VERY GOOD. The second fly leaf contains an inscription from Reverend Edward Duke: To Johnathan Rashleigh, Esq. with the Author's Kind Regards, March 24, 1846   The book is the complicated synthesis of the 19th century’s attempt to revisit a pre-Christian past through the lens of Christianity and science, with the aid of the heavily biased archeology of the time. Reverend Edward Duke (1779-1852) remarks on the origins of Druidism, archeologi