8vo. In three volumes. viii, 269pp, [8]; [2], 238pp, [6]; [3],260pp, [8]. Title pages to each volume in red and black. With an engraved frontispiece to vol. I, preliminary leaf of publisher's advertisements to vol. III, terminal index to each volume, and additional terminal leaf of publisher's advertisements to vol. III. Contemporary gilt-tooled calf. Lightly rubbed and marked, surface loss to upper joint and lower board of vol. I, otherwise a well-preserved set. Pastedowns sprung in vol. III. Inked shelf mark of 'Pi3 vol:' to FFEP of vol. I. Light staining to endpapers, otherwise internally clean and crisp.

Primarily written and edited by Ambrose Philips (1674-1749), English poet renowned for his feuds. He was the recipient of the nickname 'Namby-Pamby' - a gift from Henry Carey - a moniker which came to represent weak, pathetic or affected poetry. A friend of Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, Philips' most egregious feud was with Alexander Pope, whom he is said to have threatened to hit with a rod. With Philips lampooned in Pope's Bathos and the Dunciad, Samuel Johnson described their back-and-forth as a 'perpetual reciprocation of malevolence'.

This set contains one of many periodical papers of the era concerned with morals and manners. Dedicated to the 'Ladies of Great Britain', the editors conceptualise the work's cornerstone of 'free-thinking' as being beyond 'prejudices and passion': To Think Freely is not the Think at Random: It is not to think like a Fool or a Madman, but like a Philosopher'. The compiled lessons within cover topics ranging from social etiquette and courtship to British foreign policy, history, and even travel writing.

Provenance: From the recently dispersed library of the Seale family of Mount Boone, Dartmouth, without any indication to that effect.