Outline of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

This is an outline of the six-volume work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, authored by the celebrated English historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). It also includes a Gibbon chronology.

Volumes and editions

This massive work has been reprinted many times over the years in various editions.

• THE ORIGINAL was published between 1776 and 1789 in six volumes by the firm of Strahan & Cadell, in the Strand, London.Data assembled from David Womersley, ed., Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1 (London: Allen Lane, 1994), pp. cvii, 1084, 1106; and Norton, Biblio, 36-63. Norton reported that reliable figures on printed copies of all editions and volumes "cannot, unfortunately, be stated." p. 52. Precise days of publication from Norton, Biblio, except where otherwise noted.
• Volume I has a complex history of its own. It was published in six editions between 1776 and 1789. Three of the six contain authorial revisions, marked AR:
• First editions, 1776 Feb 17 (a and b-AR), 1000 copies;
• Second edition, 1776 June 3; 1500 copies;
• Third edition, 1777 May (AR); 1000 copies;
• Fourth edition, 1781 Apr 4 (AR);
• Fifth editions, 1782 Apr 11 (a and b);
• Sixth edition, 1789 Dec 1.
• Volumes II, III were published together in three editions between 1781 and 1789:
• First editions, 1781 Mar 1 (a and b; b sometimes called the second edition);
• Second edition, 1787 (n/a);
• Third edition, 1789......
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