8vo. xxix, [1], 376pp, [4]; 447pp. Title page and index of volume ii misbound to rear of volume i. Contemporary gilt-tooled half-calf, brown morocco lettering-pieces, marbled boards. Rubbed and marked, with surface wear to boards and joints, chipping to lettering-pieces, corners bumped. Leaves lightly browned, scattered spotting, particularly to endpapers.

The second edition of a collection of musings on 'taste' by Scottish essayist and clergyman Archibald Alison (1757 – 1839). As a follower of the Associationist School, in particular, the work of its founder, David Hartley, Alison's writing on aesthetics was heavily influenced by the principle of the association of ideas. This volume is dedicated to his lifelong friend, Scottish mathematician and philosopher Prof Dugald Stewart (1753 - 1828), one of the leading figures of the Scottish enlightenment.