The History of Ireland from the Invasion of Henry II. With a Preliminary Discourse on the Ancient State of that Kingdom. Three volumes. Dublin: Brett Smith, 1814. Pp, (1) lii, 379; (2),509; (3),630, [30] Index. Rebound in blue buckram boards, titles in gilt to spines. Water stain to lower inner corners of title page to xiii; title page of vol 3, with tape repairs; otherwise contents page in very good condition.

Thomas Leland’s (1722–85) sweeping narrative of Ireland’s political and social transformation beginning with the Anglo-Norman arrival.

It opens with a substantial preliminary discourse that surveys Ireland’s ancient institutions, laws, and cultural structures, setting the stage for the later medieval upheavals.

Across its three volumes, Leland traces the consolidation of English authority, the shifting alliances among Irish chieftains, and the long arc of conflict and accommodation that shaped the kingdom’s early modern trajectory.