Stanhope, Philip; Earl of Chesterfield. Letters to His Son, by the Earl of Chesterfield (2 volume set) On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman. With Topical Headings and a Special Introduction by Oliver H. G. Leigh. London: The Navarre Society, 1926. Limited Edition. [11758]
Rose publisher's cloth with gilt borders, top page edges, and spine titles; spines faded. 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches, bindings otherwise very good, tight. Both volumes with photogravure frontispieces with letterpress tissue guards; each with several additional plates. Vol. I. - xvi., 404 pp., unopened after p. 8; Vol. II. - xi., [1], 435 pp., unopened after p. 8. Good. Hardcover.
"This edition of the Letters of Lord Chesterfield, with Topical Headings, and a Special Introduction by Oliver H. G. Leigh, is limited to six hundred copies for Great Britain, of which this is No. 435."
Philip Stanhope (1694-1773), b. & d. at London, England. Stanhope was the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, "a British statesman, diplomat, and wit, chiefly remembered as the author of Letters to His Son and Letters to His Godson - guides to manners, the art of pleasing, and the art of worldly success...Chesterfield's winning manners, urbanity, and wit were praised by many of his leading contemporaries, and he was on familiar terms with Alexander Pope, John Gay, and Voltaire. He was the patron of many struggling authors, though one of them, Samuel Johnson, condemned him in a famous letter (1755) attacking patrons. Johnson further damaged Chesterfield's reputation when he described the Letters as teaching 'the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.' Charles Dickens later caricatured Chesterfield as Sir John Chister in Barnaby Rudge (1841)...Defenders of Chesterfield's letters, which were not written for publication, consider this an injustice and argue that his advice is shrewd and presented with wit and elegance." - Encyclopedia Britannica online.
