1774 Letters by Earl of Chesterfield to his Son Philip Stanhope 1st Edition

Description: Letters Written by The Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son Philip Stanhope, Esq.; Late Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden; Together with Several Other Pieces on Various Subjects, Published by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope, from the Originals Now in Her Possession, in Two Volumes, Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, London, 1774, full contemporary leather, frontisportrait of Stanhope in volume one, 11.5 x 9.25”, 4tos. **First Editions with half-title pages. In fair condition. Front boards of both volumes detached; rear board of Vol. I detached. Full leather boards scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Heads and tails of spines bumped & scuffed, but intact. Rear hinge of Vol. II is cracked, but board is intact. Gilt lettering and ruling normally dulled, but attractive. Edges of text-blocks marbled. Water or tea dampness staining found on top edge of frontispiece. Off-setting found on Vol. I's title page from frontispiece. Normal toning throughout text-blocks; some instances of age-staining or finger-soiling. Previous ownership signatures, in ink, found on both volumes' page 1. Bindings of text-blocks intact; boards loose. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. Lord Stanhope assumed his seat in the House of Lords and became the 4th Earl of Chesterfield in 1726 upon the death of his father. The new Lord Chesterfield's inclination towards oration, often seen as ineffective in the House of Commons because of its polish and lack of force, was met with appreciation in the House of Lords, and won many to his side. In 1728, under service to the new king, George II, Chesterfield was sent to the Hague as ambassador, where his gentle tact and linguistic dexterity served him well. As a reward for his diplomatic service, Chesterfield received the Order of the Garter in 1730, the position of Lord Steward, and the friendship of Robert Walpole. While a British envoy in the Hague, he helped negotiate the second Treaty of Vienna (1731), which signaled the collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, and the beginning of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. In 1732, Madelina Elizabeth du Bouchet, a French governess, gave birth to his illegitimate son, Philip for whose advice on life Chesterfield wrote the Letters to his Son. The letters, over 400 of them are elegant in their style and instructive in the methodology. The Earl of Chesterfield is remembered to this day for his evocative and sensitive words, his fine manners and his cosmopolitan life. Upon the death of the Earl, Eugenia Stanhope, the impoverished widow of Chesterfield's illegitimate son, Philip Stanhope, published the book of Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774). It is comprised of a thirty-year correspondence in more than 400 letters. Begun in 1737 and continued until the death of his son in 1768, Chesterfield wrote mostly instructive communications about geography, history, and classical literature, with later letters focusing on politics and diplomacy, and the letters themselves were written in French, English and Latin to refine his son's grasp of the languages. RAREB1774DTVA - 10/22 FORN-SHELF-0459-BB-2410-HKREV126

Price: 1000 USD

Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-11-21T18:24:47.000Z

Shipping Cost: 22.63 USD