Author: KNIGHT (Richard Payne):
Title: An Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste. The Fourth Edition.
Description: London: Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons...for T. Payne..., 1808. 8vo, 215 x 137 mms., pp. xx, 476, contemporary half roan, ribbed linen boards; spine and joints rubbed, top and base of spine chipped. Not an attractive copy, but in sound condition. The first edition of Knight's book was published in 1805, partly in response to Uvedale Price's work on the picturesque. Knight made numerous changes and expansions in the second edition, also published in 1805. The third edition appeared in 1806, and the fourth would appear to be a straightforward reprint of that text. Reviewing the first edition in 1805, The Edinburgh Review gave it a long and mostly appreciative notice, concluding, "Upon the whole, we have met with few works of criticism, ancient or modern, so richly stored with reading and reflection, or so full of interesting speculation, as this before us. The author has taken more advantage of modern improvements in metaphysics than any, perhaps, who have gone before him; and certainly has a more comprehensive knowledge of the fine arts, of science and of literature."

Keywords: aesthetics philosophy prose


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