Beschreibung:

ARNOLD, Matthew (1822-1888). Essays in Criticism . London and Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., 1865. 8° (171 x 115mm). Uncut in original brown cloth (spine darkened and frayed at head, rear inner hinges slightly split). Provenance : William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919, publisher's presentation inscription on half-title: 'W.M. Rossetti from Macmillan 1866') -- Orford Young (wood-engraved bookplate by Sidney Hunt; [?]his note of purchase 'from Messrs Sotheran & Co's books from the library of the late W.M. Rossetti November 1921'). Exhibited : Grolier Club (exhibition label loosely inserted). FIRST EDITION of these essays famously attacking the English middle-class 'Philistine.' Smart p. 20. ARNOLD, Matthew. Essays in Criticism, Second Series . London: Macmillan and Co., 1888. 8° (186 x 121mm). Advertisements at end. Original blue cloth, uncut and partly unopened, in common morocco-backed brown cloth slipcase with the above copy of the first series. Provenance : W.M. Rossetti (attribution on Grolier Club exhibition label but no marks of ownership) -- Orford Young (bookplate). FIRST EDITION of the second series, posthumously published, including Arnold's best known critical essays. Smart p. 33. ARNOLD, Matthew. Literature and Dogma . London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1873. 8° (187 x 121mm). Original brown cloth (recased by Roger Powell, extremities frayed). Provenance : presentation copy to Lady Louisa Montefiore de Rothschild (half-title inscribed: 'Lady de Rothschild - with the most sincere regard. M.A.-') -- purchased from James F. Drake, New York, 11 March 1941, $30. FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY. Arnold's best-selling book argued that Jesus was 'above the heads of his reporters,' and that Christianity needed to jettison 'the misapprehending and materialising of his religion' in order to survive. He wrote to Lady de Rothschild from the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, February 7 1873, to say 'Many thanks for the pheasants ... I send you my book today, and I cannot easily tell you with what pleasure I have looked forward to you reading it' ( Letters , ed. C.Y. Lang, IV, p. 142). Smart p. 28; and the first edition of Irish Essays (1882), Smart p. 32. (4)