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CHESTERFIELD, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of, (1694-1773). Letters written by the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to his Son... London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1774.
2 volumes, 4o (307 x 208 mm). Half-titles. Engraved portrait frontispiece. (Minor staining to some upper margins in part I, pale offsetting from portrait in vol. I.) Contemporary blue-grey paper boards, uncut (rebacked, light staining and rubbing to covers). Provenance: purchased from International Bookfinders, 1964.
FIRST EDITION, second issue, with half-titles and errata at end of vol. II. Chesterfield's private letters were posthumously published by his son's widow, and were originally not intended for publication. "Throughout the concluding half of his life his most serious interest was the education and the advancement in life of his natural son Philip. When the boy was barely five (in 1737) Chesterfield opened a correspondence with him, which he continued with scrupulous regularity so long as his son lived. At first he sent him elaborate essays, often both in French and English, on classical history, mythology, and composition. He never, when in office, allowed the business of state to delay the almost daily task. When he was free from political cares, and the boy had become a youth, he forwarded to him carefully considered instruction in all branches of learning on a scheme devised to make his pupil a reputable man of the world" (DNB). Chesterfield's celebrated letters attracted praise and criticism. Samuel Johnson said that the letters "teach the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing-master." (See Boswell Life of Johnson 1754.) Rothschild 596. (2)
2 volumes, 4o (307 x 208 mm). Half-titles. Engraved portrait frontispiece. (Minor staining to some upper margins in part I, pale offsetting from portrait in vol. I.) Contemporary blue-grey paper boards, uncut (rebacked, light staining and rubbing to covers). Provenance: purchased from International Bookfinders, 1964.
FIRST EDITION, second issue, with half-titles and errata at end of vol. II. Chesterfield's private letters were posthumously published by his son's widow, and were originally not intended for publication. "Throughout the concluding half of his life his most serious interest was the education and the advancement in life of his natural son Philip. When the boy was barely five (in 1737) Chesterfield opened a correspondence with him, which he continued with scrupulous regularity so long as his son lived. At first he sent him elaborate essays, often both in French and English, on classical history, mythology, and composition. He never, when in office, allowed the business of state to delay the almost daily task. When he was free from political cares, and the boy had become a youth, he forwarded to him carefully considered instruction in all branches of learning on a scheme devised to make his pupil a reputable man of the world" (DNB). Chesterfield's celebrated letters attracted praise and criticism. Samuel Johnson said that the letters "teach the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing-master." (See Boswell Life of Johnson 1754.) Rothschild 596. (2)