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Fourth Edition overall [First Dublin Edition]. In Two Volumes (complete set). Small Octavo (10 cm x 18 cm). VI, 288, VIII, 288 pages. Hardcover / Original 18th century leather with new spinelabels, made to style. Both Volumes now in protective Mylar. Some minor wormhole-damage to the last 20 pages of Volume Two.Minor lesions to some pages only. Faded dampstain to both Volumes. Still, both Volumes firm and complete. Important scottish enlightenment publication. From the library of one "John Courtenay", with his name in ink on the titlepages of both Volumes. This is possibly John Courtenay (22 August 1738 - 24 March 1816), who was an Irish officer in the British Army, later becing a politician in England. He was a Whig member of Parliament (MP) at Westminster from 1780 to 1807, and again in 1812. (Wikipedia) With interesting articles, especially on Female Matters of the 18th century: On Duelling (Regulations proposed) - Story of Captain Douglas / Remarks on the Poems of Ossian / Of Beauty - Philosophical Opinions of it / The Mussulman's Mirror / Censure of a particular piece of indecorum at the theatre / Of Female Manners / (Change to those of Scotland considered) / Description of a Tour through the Highlands, by a London Family / Of Education - A classical contrasted with a fashionable education / Description of a shopkeeper virtuoso, in a letter from his wife Rebecca Prune / Distresses of the families of Soldiers - Story of Nancy Collins / Danger of too refined an education to girls in certain circumstances, in a letter from Harriet B. / Behaviour of Great LAdies in town to their country acquaintance, in a letter from Elizabeth Homespun / Recital of a conversation critcism on the Tragedy of Zara / The Hardship of educating a young lady in an expensive manner and then leaving her with a very slender provision for her support; History of herself, by S.M. / Account of a younger brother in the country, in a letter from Joseph Fielding / Essay on Dreams / Of the privilege of fashion to alter nature; some accountof certain fashionable peculiarities in Edinburgh / Antiquarius on the Virtues of certain ancient medicines / On Superstition and the Fear of Death / Emilia on Female accomplishment / etc. etc. Mirror Club (act. 1776 1787), a prominent group of Scottish literati who published the Edinburgh journals The Mirror (1779 80) and The Lounger (1785 7), evolved from a small Edinburgh literary debating society known as the Feast of Tabernacles (1770 77). The latter was a self-selected group of young writers, lawyers, preachers, and landed scions whose acknowledged leader was the politician Henry Dundas. Many of these individuals had earlier belonged to the Belles Lettres Society (1759 63), the junior version of the Select Society, a famous grouping of Scottish politicians, philosophers, preachers, and writers. In its early evolution from the Feast of Tabernacles about 1776 7, the founding members of the Mirror Club included Henry Mackenzie, William Craig, Alexander Abercromby, William Macleod Bannatyne, and Robert Cullen. Other members from this time were the lawyers George Ogilvie (d. 1785), William Gordon of Newhall (d. 1778), and George Home of Wedderburn (1734 1820). Later corresponding members, who contributed essays or correspondence, included James Beattie, David Dalrymple, William Greenfield, Robert Henry, David Hume (bap. 1757, d. 1838), William Richardson, William Strahan, Alexander Fraser Tytler, and his father, William Tytler. The publisher and future lord provost of Edinburgh, William Creech, whose idea it was to publish The Mirror, should be considered an ex officio club member since he was the only contact for many of the correspondents. Any forced division between core and corresponding members is somewhat misleading, however, since Dalrymple, Richardson, and Alexander Fraser Tytler made a far greater contribution to the club's publications than certain full members. Tytler, in fact, became one of the club's principal.
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