"TO ENLIVEN MORALITY WITH WIT": HANDSOME 1819 SET OF THE SPECTATOR

(ADDISON and STEELE, et al.). The Spectator. New Edition, Carefully Corrected from the Originals, with Historical, Biographical, and Explanatory Notes. London: J. Johnson et al., 1808. Eight volumes. Octavo, contemporary full navy straight-grain morocco gilt, elaborately gilt- and blind-tooled spines and covers, raised bands, all edges gilt. $1600.

Early 19th-century edition of this pioneering English periodical, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Joseph Addison in Volume I, handsomely bound in contemporary straight-grain morocco-gilt.

Presenting essays by Addison, Richard Steele, Alexander Pope, Thomas Tickell and others, The Spectator, originally published 1711-14, "appeared daily, and was immensely popular, particularly with the new growing middle-class readership… The papers are mainly concerned with manners, morals, and literature. Their object is 'to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality'" (Drabble, 925-6). Addison helped set the pattern and establish the vogue for the periodical in the 18th-century, and cultivated a receptive audience for the emerging art form of the novel. "The Spectator made a mark in English literature, and fixed a form which was adopted with servile fidelity by many succeeding periodicals till the end of the century" (DNB).

Upper corners of Volume VI gently bumped, a few others lightly rubbed. Near-fine condition, very handsomely bound.