The Well-bred Scholar, or Practical Essays on the Best Methods of Improving the Taste, and Assisting the Exertions of Youth in Their Literary Pursuits

Second edition, with alterations and revisions; 6 1/2 x 4; pp. 284; full polished roan; morocco label with faded gilt title to spine; rubbed spots to leather on corners and tips of spine; thin closed cut along spine (boards still securely attached); partial bookplate of previous owner to front board verso; spotting and discoloration to first and last few leaves only, else mostly very clean (an ink splatter to, ironically, pages on letter writing); two facing title pages - one of them engraved and hand-colored, announcing that the book is "The Columbia Library Containing A Statistical Selection of British Literature, Vol. 1"; good to very good condition.An uncommon early American imprint of an influential, for its times, work. William Milns (1761 - 1801) was an English author and educator, who wrote the first edition of the current work in 1794. Milns moved to New York in 1797, where he would have a successful career writing extravagant comedies, performed throughout the city's theaters. In the conclusion of the book, Milns wrote: "In this Treatise I have confined myself to an exposition of what appeared to me the best practical methods of assisting youth in the study of languages, and of forming their taste in composition." Chapters included letter writing, fables, orations, the study of Latin and Greek, etc. 2.…