Table-Talk; Or, Original Essays. By William Hazlitt. London: John Warren. MDCCCXXI (1821). Two volumes.
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Table-Talk is a collection of essays by the English cultural critic and social commentator William Hazlitt. It was originally published as two volumes, the first of which appeared in April 1821. The essays deal with topics such as art, literature and philosophy. Duncan Wu has described the essays as the "pinnacle of [Hazlitt's] achievement", and argues that Table-Talk and The Plain Speaker (1826) represent Hazlitt's magnum opus.
For some years, Hazlitt's work had been routinely attacked by Tory critics, particularly those associated with Blackwood's Magazine and the Quarterly Review. The reception of the first volume of Table-Talk by the Tory journals was, unsurprisingly, negative. Leigh Hunt, an erstwhile friend of Hazlitt, was extremely offended by the fact that he had been included in Hazlitt's essay titled "On People with One Idea". The reception of the second volume was similar, with Blackwood's describing it as a "gaping sore of wounded and festering vanity".
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Size: 140 x 220 x 33 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[title, advertisement, contents, 400pp.]; [title, contents, 401pp.]
Rebacked with very minor scuffing and rubbing to spines. Marks to the bottom of volume two, and very minor marks to the bottom of volume one. Tooled labels present. All boards securely attached with minor wear to joints and hinges. Boards with scratches, scuffing rubbing, and marks. Shelf and edge wear. Dulling to page edges. Pencil inscription on front pastedown in both volumes. Edge toning as commensurate with the binding on endpapers. Pencil inscription to the top of the title page in volume one. Title page of volume two repaired at the top. Text block fairly clean with light toning to edges and sporadic very minor foxing.
[OCLC: 1403595993].
