The Letters Of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl Of Chesterfield ; Including Numerous Letters Now First Published From The Original Manuscripts. Edited, With Notes, By Lord Mahon. In Four Volumes [sic]. Volume I - Letters On Education. [with] Volume II - Letters On Education; And Characters. [with] Volume III - Letters, Political And Miscellaneous. [with] Volume IV - Letters, Political And Miscellaneous. [with] Volume V - Miscellanies [5 volumes complete] by Stanhope, Philip Dormer ( Earl Of Chesterfield ) & Lord Mahon ( Stanhope, Philip Henry , 5th Earl Stanhope ) [editor] - 1845 - 1853

Richard Bentley, 1845 - 1853. 1st edition.. Hardback. Original cloth, VG. 5 volumes, xxxvi+[i]+429pp, viii+482pp, xv+452pp, xx+506pp, xi+544pp, b/w frontis to each volume, index to the set in volume V, paper a little yellowed with age, volumes IV partly & V mostly un-opened, small grease stain to a few pages in volume IV, spines uniformly sunned & the heads of the spines snagged & frayed, gilt lettering of the publishers name at the base of the spine dulled, small pierce hole to the upper board of volume III where a needle or similar has been pushed through, hinges in good order, a nice set. Ex libris Robert Albert Cunliffe with each volume containing his armorial bookplate, binders ticket of Westleys on the pastedown of volume I. Laid in is an invoice for the sale of the books, dated 1964 from Sotheran's. Nice edition of the letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield [ 1694 - 1773 ] including his famous 'Letters to his Son, on Education'. These Letters were written to Stanhope's illegitimate son Philip Stanhope [ 1732 - 1768 ], as part of his father's earnest education of his son. 'They constitute one of the heaviest intellectual bombardments ever attempted' [DNB]. Much has been speculated on the expectations Stanhope had for his son & the grief he felt at Philip's early death - 'Philip Stanhope became a man of deep learning and sound sense ; but utterly wanting in what his father so highly prized - the graces' [preface]. The books also contain the more restrained 'Letters to his Godson'.