Two volumes. Printed for J. Parsons. London. 1794. 12mo. (2), x, 360pp, 3 copper engraved plates; (4), 364, (32 index)pp, 4 copper engraved plates. Seven copper plates in total. Full contemporary tree calf, with commensurate wear to joints, corners and edges. Spines in six compartments with leather labels and gilt lettering. Gilt edge tooling. Bookseller's plates to fep of each volume: Thornton & Son, Oxford. Paper fault - small hole to second free endpaper of Vol. I. Some foxing and offsetting to the plates, occasional spotting. Text block firm and crisp. The Guardian was founded by Richard Steele (1671-1729) the Anglo-Irish writer and politician, featuring contributions from Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope etc. A short lived newspaper, published from 12 March to 1 October 1713, its sequel was Steele's Gentleman's Magazine. With Addison he also founded The Spectator and The Tatler. Steele died at his home in Llangunnor, Carmarthenshire in 1729 and was buried at St Peter's, Carmarthen. His skull was discovered in a lead casket during restoration work at St Peter's in 2000, apparently having previously been accidentally disinterred. This edition is not held by the British Library. Four copies only are recorded in the UK, all incomplete: Aberdeen University Library (Vol. 2 only), National Library of Scotland, Bodleian and Eton. None of the copies recorded in the UK contain the full 7 plates present in this set.