The Observer: Being a Collection of Moral, Literary and Familiar Essays

London: Printed for C. Dilly..., 1786, 1788, 1791. FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. 5 volumes 1 - 4 first editions; second edition of volume 5. 8vo, 189 x 114 mms., pp. [viii], 295 [296 blank]; [vi], 282; [viii], 330; [viii], 314; [viii], 309 [310 adverts[, contemporary polished calf, spine richly gilt, red and green morocco labels; joints volume 1 very slightly cracked, some wear to extremities, but an attractive and a very good set, with the contemporary autograph of Thomas Harvey on the top margin of the title-page in each volume The playwright and novelist Richard Cumberland (1732–1811) seems almost to have drifted into a career as an author in his thirties, and he published works in all the popular literary genres of the 18th century. "The Observer...appeared in five volumes between 1786 and 1790 and contains 152 essays. The essays range from the usual fare of literary criticism (on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Milton, Rowe, and others), to general subjects ('Love of praise'), little tales (often running to three or more numbers), historical essays, and a variety of other sub-genres. Of special interest is no. 27, 'Remarks upon novels; particularly of Richardson's Clarissa', in which he also invokes Fielding. Unlike other periodical papers, there are thirty-eight consecutive essays (nos. 114–52) on Greek history and literature, with a number of his translations of Greek poetry" (ODNB).