Letters Written By the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope Esq; Late Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden: Together with Several Other Pieces on Various Subjects

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Slipcase: Fine Second Edition. Four vols. Bound by Bayntun Riviere, Bath, England in 3/4 calf with marbled boards. Gilt top edge. Internally clean. Ownership bookplate on FFEPs. Vol. I external hinge has some external cracking to leather but still bound tightly. Light wear to the bindings. Some pencil underlines/markings to the text (can be erased). Also, a small number of pages have flaws with occasional stains/ and a few tiny holes. Overall, the internal pages are in excellent condition (minimal foxing and toning), given their age. They have been well cared for.

Eugenia Stanhope, the impoverished widow of Chesterfield's illegitimate son, Philip Stanhope, was the first to publish the book Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774), which comprises a thirty-year correspondence in more than 400 letters. Begun in 1737 and continued until the death of his son in 1768, Chesterfield wrote mostly instructive communications about geography, history, and classical literature, with later letters focusing on politics and diplomacy, and the letters themselves were written in French, English and Latin to refine his son's grasp of the languages.

Despite having been an accomplished essayist and epigrammatist in his time, Lord Chesterfield's literary reputation today derives almost entirely from Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774) and Letters to His Godson (1890), books of private correspondence and paternal and avuncular advice that he never intended for publication.

A beautiful, collector's set.

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