Essays of Elia.

Boston, MA: A. W. Lovering. Very Good-. 1878. Reprint. Hardcover. This book is in Very Good- condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book covers have some ground-in dirt, several spots of discoloration and rubbing. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some bumping, rubbing and light fraying. The text pages are clean and bright. "Essays of Elia is a collection of essays written by Charles Lamb; it was first published in book form in 1823, with a second volume, Last Essays of Elia, issued in 1833 by the publisher Edward Moxon. The essays in the collection first began appearing in The London Magazine in 1820 and continued to 1825. Lamb's essays were very popular and were printed in many subsequent editions throughout the nineteenth century. The personal and conversational tone of the essays has charmed many readers; the essays "established Lamb in the title he now holds, that of the most delightful of English essayists." Lamb himself is the Elia of the collection, and his sister Mary is "Cousin Bridget." Charles first used the pseudonym Elia for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had worked decades earlier; Elia was the last name of an Italian man who worked there at the same time as Charles, and after that essay the name stuck. " (from Wikipedia) .