SMITH, Sydney. The Works of the Rev. Sydney Smith. Second edition. In three volumes. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1840.

SMITH, Sydney. The Works of the Rev. Sydney Smith. Second edition. In three volumes. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1840.

Three volumes: viii, 462; iv, 467; iv, 465 pp; volume 1 title-page creased with two minor tears to inner margin and sellotape removed from inner margin of verso of title-page/Preface, sellotape repair to inner margin of p.81 in vol. 3. Contemporary half calf with marbled boards, gilt decorated spines with raised bands and contrasting labels, rubbed.

With the ownership inscription of G.F. Edmonstone, dated 1841, to upper margin of title-page in each volume (?Sir George Frederick Edmonstone, 1813-1864, Lord Wellesley's foreign secretary in India). Sydney Smith (1771-1845), canon of St. Paul's, was an original member of Edinburgh's 'Friday Club' along with Dugald Stewart, John Playfair and Archibald Alison. He supervised the first three issues of the 'Edinburgh Review' and contributed nearly eighty articles in twenty-five years - these are reprinted in the Works. Dugald Stewart described Smith's preaching as giving him a thrilling sensation of sublimity never before awakened by any oratory.