The first volume of Hume's History of England, dealing with the early Stuarts, appeared in 1754. The final volumes, covering the period from the invasion of Julius Caesar to 1485, appeared in 1762, although Hume was occupied with revisions of the whole work until his death. In writing history, Hume was partly creating, partly responding to, a new market. In 1757 he thought history “the most popular kind of writing of any” (HL 1:244). In 1770 he wrote, “I believe this is the historical Age and this [Scotland] the historical Nation” (HL 2:230). He knew of no fewer than eight histories that were currently being written. The year before, in England, he had declared, “History, I think, is the Favourite Reading” (HL 2:196). Hume and his friend William Robertson were in large part responsible for this new popularity of history, much of it written by Scotsmen for English readers. Hume himself had received unprecedented payments for his History (for which he sold the copyright on each volume, rather than collecting royalties): he made at least £3,200 on the whole, at a time when a friend of his could consider himself well to do on £80 per annum (HL1:193, 255, 266, 314). Although in practice his History seems to have sold less well during his lifetime than the various volumes of his Essays, Hume was consistently of the opinion that this was his bookseller's fault. The market for history books was potentially far larger (HL 2:106, 229, 233, 242).