F.M. Turner, The Greek heritage in Victorian Britain (1981).
Summary Note
The publication-date of 1808 is carried by Volumes I - IV, of which the first three volumes are reprints of the volumes first published in 1784, 1790 and 1797. The fifth volume was first published in 1818.
Mitford's account, ending with the death of Alexander in 327 B.C., was the first detailed history of ancient Greece in English. Mitford wrote during the period of the French Revolution, and was very ready to draw analogies between ancient Athenian democrats ('a tyranny in the hands of the people') and the revolutionaries in France. This stance was countered by the histories of Thirlwall (1835-44) and Grote (1846-56), which were not only more liberal in outlook but also more sophisticated in scholarship.
In 1794 a contest arose between Mitford and John Gillies as to who should succeed Gibbon as Professor of Ancient History at the Royal Academy - a conflict of such intensity that the post was long left vacant. It was finally filled by Mitford from 1818 to 1827.
Provenance
27 July 1813: 'Mr Smirke moved that the following work(s) be purchased for the Library - Mitford's History of Greece ... Which was seconded by Mr. Wilkie, & passed Unanimously.' (RA Council Minutes V, 68-9). Acquired by 1821 (see A Catalogue of the Library in the Royal Academy, London, 1821, p. 27).
Binding Note
19th-century half calf, marbled-papered boards; rebacked in 20th century, spines lettered 'Mitford's Hist. Of Greece Vol I. (V.)'