An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times. By the Author of Essays on the Characteristics, &c

BROWN, John

Published by L. Davis and C. Reymers, London, 1757

About this Item

~Original full dark brown speckled calf, boards framed in double gilt fillets. Raised bands and gilt ruling to spine. Blind decor to board edges, rubbed. Board corners slightly pushed in. Thin abrasion to rear board (5cm). Cracking starting over front and rear hinges at top spine, but hinges still firm. Chipping to top spine. 8vo (12.8 x 19.5cm). All edges speckled red, top edges darkened. Cracking just starting to endpapers at gutters. Owner's signature and two owner's bookplates, superimposed, to inside front board, the lower bookplate belonging to 'Gabriel Wright, Romford, 1758'. Gabriel Wright's large calligraphic signature also to front blank endpage, dated 1757. Title page printed in red & black. Minor foxing. Publisher's advertisement leaf to rear. ESTC T147297. Published anonymously. By the Anglican priest and moralist John Brown (1715-1766), the Estimate is 'a vigorous attack on the 'vain, luxurious and selfish EFFEMINACY' of England's higher ranks, in the wake of the loss of Minorca to the French at the opening of the Seven Years' War' (ODNB). Its popularity (it ran to 7 editions in 1757, the year of its first publication, of which this is the third) earned its author the name 'Estimate Brown'. 'Th' inestimable estimate of Brown,' wrote Cowper, 'Rose like a paper-kite, and charm'd the town', before English military success rather undermined the force of Brown's jeremiad: 'But measures plann'd and executed well, / Shifted the wind that rais'd it, and it fell' (Table Talk, in Poems, 1782). Early edition in original binding. ~Robust packaging. Overseas tracking available on request. Size: 221, (2)pp. Seller Inventory # JJ5514

Bibliographic Details

Title: An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of...

Publisher: L. Davis and C. Reymers, London

Publication Date: 1757

Binding: Hardback

Condition: Good+

Edition: 3rd edn.

Book Type: Binding sound, text unmarked