1. [Kames] Henry Home, Lord Kames.

Elements of Criticism.

First Irish Edition. Two Volumes [complete]. Dublin, Printed for Sarah Cotter, 1762. Small Octavo (11.2 cm wide x 17.8 cm high). Volume I: VIII, 390 pages / Volume II: 387 pages plus 29 pages of an Index plus 4 pages of Advertising for 18th-century Irish printer and Bookseller, Sarah Cotter: “Books Publish’d by Sarah Cotter in Skinner-Row”. Hardcover / Original full leather with gilt lettering on spine. Name of preowner John Morrison on titlepages [possibly the 18th century – Architect John Morrison from Midleton, with a connection to Castlemartyr]. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. The very rare, even scarce irish edition of this important publication of the Scottish Aesthetic Movement: “In the popular book Elements of Criticism (1762) Home interrogated the notion of fixed or arbitrary rules of literary composition, and endeavoured to establish a new theory based on the principles of human nature. The late eighteenth-century tradition of sentimental writing was associated with his notion that “the genuine rules of criticism are all of them derived from the human heart.” Neil Rhodes has argued that Lord Kames played a significant role in the development of English as an academic discipline in the Scottish Universities” (Wikipedia).