Webb, Daniel

Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry [First Edition]

Webb, Daniel. Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry. London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1762. First edition. 
Twelvemo. [2], 123 pp. Nicely rebound in modern quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt-stamped title to spine, five raised bands, endleaves refreshed. 

Daniel Webb (1718 -1798) came from a reasonably wealthy Irish family and spent much of his life in Bath. He wrote three aesthetic treatises, all short: An Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting (1760), Observations on the Correspondence between Poetry and Music (1769), and the present work. 'One of the attractive features of Webb's contribution to aesthetic theory in the eighteenth century lies in his concentration on music, poetry, and painting as works of art qua art, and not as devices or structures for enabling morality or imposing codes of conduct. Webb is genuinely concerned to discuss the empirical effects of these arts as sensual and sensuous artifacts, and the associationist assumptions underlying his comments propel him towards an idea of pure, not purifying, art" (John Valdimir Price, Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers). Webb has received little attention from modern critics and historians, though Ren Wellek has drawn attention to the "considerable subtlety" in his comments on Shakespeare's imagery in his History of Modern Criticism.

Minor wear, light toning, lacks half-title. A very good, clean copy. Item #2824

Price: $300.00