The Works of Aristotle. Volumes 1-8 [of 10]

London: Printed for the Translator by Robert Wilks, 1812. First Edition in English. Very Good. First edition in English of the works of Aristotle, one of 50 sets printed, and boldly signed by the translator Thomas Taylor in ink at the end of the first volume. All volumes bear the armorial bookplates of noted bibliophile and Bronte family benefactor Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861). Incomplete set, with eight of ten volumes present of the complete translation. Uniformly bound by "J. Mackenzie, Binder to the King" in contemporary half morocco over French Curl marbled boards with spines lettered and tooled in gilt; all edges gilt, 4to. Very Good with wear extremities rubbed, sporadic foxing, hinges slightly tender. Volumes include: 1. The Organon, 1807. 2. The Treatises on the Soul, 1808. 3.The History of Animals, 1809. 4.The Treatises on the Parts and Progressive Motion on Animals etc., 1810. 5. The Rhetoric, 1811. 6. The Great Edemian Ethics, 1811. 7. A Dissertation on the Philosophy of Aristotle, 1812.8. The Metaphysics (first edition of 1801). The first collected English translations of Aristotle's works from Orphic fragments by Neoplatonist scholar Thomas Tyler (1758-1835.) Provenance of famed bibliophile and collector Frances Mary Richardson Currer whose well-curated and respected library expanded to nearly 20,000 volumes. Bibliographer Thomas Frognall Dibdin remarked that she was, "the head of all female book collectors in Europe." Known for her philanthropic endeavors she donated a sum of 50 pounds to Patrick Bronte, father of Charlotte Bronte, when he was widowed in 1821. Currer also contributed an unknown amount to the Clergy Daughter's School that the Bronte sisters attended. Scholars postulate that Charlotte chose the non de plume of "Currer Bell" for her first published 1847 novel Jane Eyre in honor of Currer's philanthropy. A desirable set, even without Currer's bookplate, that seldom comes up for sale. (Inventory #: 140947913)