LAMB, Charles.
The Last Essays of Elia.
Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1899.
$100.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-152475
Altemus Edition of Charles Lamb's The Last Essays of Elia; In a Decorative Art Nouveau Binding
Attractive Altemus edition of Charles Lamb's The Last Essays of Elia, the second and final collection of the beloved essays he published under the pen name Elia. Duodecimo, original decorative paper-covered boards, elaborately printed in colors and gilt in the Art Nouveau style, with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Lamb and a title page printed in orange and green within a floral border. In good condition with rubbing and chipping to the extremities.
The Last Essays of Elia, first published in 1833, is the second and final collection of the essays Charles Lamb contributed to the London Magazine under the pen name Elia, following the celebrated Essays of Elia of 1823. Ranging from the tender recollections of "Old China" and "Poor Relations" to the comic and the frankly melancholy, the Elia essays are the supreme achievement of the English familiar essay, prized for their wit, warmth, whimsy, and the intimate voice Lamb created for his alter ego. Charles Lamb spent his working life as a clerk at the East India House while writing essays, criticism, and some of the finest letters in the language, and with his sister Mary he produced Tales from Shakespeare, long a standard introduction to the plays for young readers. A devoted friend of Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Hazlitt, Lamb bore lifelong responsibility for Mary, who in 1796 killed their mother during an episode of mental illness, and the quiet heroism of that life gives the Elia essays their peculiar depth.
The Last Essays of Elia.
$100.00
In Stock
