Elegant epistles : being a copious collection of familiar and amusing letters, selected for the improvement of young persons, and for general entertainment

New edition, revised and expanded. Illustrated with a frontispiece showing various authors in medallions. Printed in double columns.
Contemporary marbled brown calf binding. Smooth spine richly decorated with Greek key and other rolls. Red morocco title-label. Covers decorated with 3 framing rolls. Interior frieze. Tears to the title-label, upper joint and one compartment. Rubbing. One corner slightly bumped. Elegant English binding, despite some flaws.The letters are divided into four books; the first offers extracts from Cicero and Pliny; the second gathers famous personalities from English history; book three contains letters by Pope and his friends; the last book contains correspondence by Laurence Sterne, Lord Chesterfield...
An appendix contains extracts from French letter writers, Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Sévigné.