“THE GREATEST MASTER OF RIDICULE THAT HAS APPEARED AMONG US SINCE SWIFT” (LORD MACAULAY)

SMITH, Sydney. Works. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1848. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary full polished tan calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, burgundy and black morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers and edges. $750.

Fourth edition of the collected works of the celebrated 19th-century English satirist, handsomely bound.

Clergyman and author Smith helped found the Edinburgh Review and had a long career as a successful satirist. He "has often been compared with [Jonathan] Swift… Perhaps his most remarkable quality was the overwhelming good humor, kindness and optimism which he combined with his satire… Perhaps Sydney Smith's own remarks… give an even clearer picture of the man's character: 'When wit is combined with sense and information; when it is softened by benevolence and restrained by strong principle; when it is in the hands of a man who can use it and despise it, who can be witty and something much better than witty, who loves honor, justice, decency, good-nature, morality and religion, ten thousand times better than wit—wit is then a beautiful and delightful part of our nature" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 571). With frontispiece portrait in Volume I. First published 1839-40. Lowndes, 2429. See Allibone, 2156-57. Armorial bookplates.

A few small abrasions to bindings. A fine set, handsomely bound.