Spectator, The [8 vols.] by STEELE, Richard (1672-1729) and Joseph Addison, et al - 1789

London: Printed by H. Hughs; for Messrs. Payne, Rivington, Davis, Longman, Dodsley [and 26 others in London], 1789. Full Calf. Near Fine. 8vo: iv,476,[12]; iv,506,[14]; 479; 443,[21]; 460,[12]; 459,[19]; 486,[12]; 408,[10]pp, each volume with a different engraved title page vignette by Simon Francois Ravenet and Charles Grignion. Uniformly bound in full period calf, with red morocco lettering pieces and green number labels to the flat spines, divided by gilt bands into six compartments. An exceptionally clean, tight set, with only very occasional foxing, complete in the larger octavo format. Provenance: This set withdrawn from a seminary library, with very faint evidence of call labels removed from lower spines. A paper conservationist has skillfully lifted card pockets from the rear paste downs leaving only the acid shadows of their former presence. Signature of Rob. Wetherell, in a very fine hand, on the front fly leaves, dated 1790. ESTC Citation No. T97954. Rothschild 3 (for first edition) The Spectator appeared in two separate series, the first published daily, except Sundays, from 1 March 1711 until 6 December 1712 (for a total of 555 issues) and edited by Richard Steele, the second, edited by Joseph Addison and others and numbered 556–635, published three times a week from 18 June to 20 December 1714. The two series were first published in eight successive volumes between 1711 and 1714, of which this set is a later reprint. Some 274 numbers, according to Rothschild, were contributed by Addison, and 236 by Steele. Among the 30 or so other contributors was Jonathan Swift. Pope's Messiah was first printed in No. 378, with a brief introductory note. The Spectator's opening issue proposed no definite program for the paper; the editor only wishes to “publish a Sheet-full of Thoughts every Morning, for the Benefit of my Contemporaries." As such, the paper's content is wide-ranging, including comic character sketches; essays on manners and morals; allegorical dream-visions, such as a dissection of a beau’s brain and a coquette’s heart; short stories; literary criticism; defenses of Whig political values; and readers’ letters. Its pages offer opinions on everything from the girth of women’s hoop petticoats to the creation of the universe, focussing particularly on the minutiae of dress, manners and social behavior, and provide rich insights into the details of early eighteenth century life. A century after the Spectator’s original publication, Jane Austen’s complaint in Northanger Abbey (1803) bears witness to the paper's enduring influence as a conduct book. If her heroine, she tells us, had been caught reading the Spectator, “how proudly would she have produced the book, and told its name!”