Literary and Characteristical Lives of John Gregory, M.D., Henry Home, Lord Kame, David Hume, Esq., and Adam Smith, L.L.D. To which are added a Dissertation on Public Spirit; and Three Essays.

SMELLIE, William (1740-1795).

Edinburgh: Printed and Sold by Alex. Smellie, [etc.] 1800. [Scottish Biography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[2] x; 450 [2]. Contemporary tan half calf, with gilt titles to red label, gilt ruling, blind tooling to spine and corners, and grey-brown paper over boards. All edges speckled brown. Small yellow label and black ink ownership for Roseville House Library, Gatehouse of Fleet, in Dumfries & Galloway, to front pastedown. Very light spotting to endpapers with a light water stain to preliminaries; otherwise a remarkably crisp, clean copy. Binding rubbed and bumped to extremities, with some loss to head and tail caps, and joints only just starting. Very good overall, in an attractive contemporary binding. Smellie was a significant figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, being the editor of the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, publisher of various scientific periodicals, and a founder-member of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. This collection of biographies was published posthumously by his son Alexander, being an unfinished attempt at a Scottish Biographical Dictionary. Item #59357

Price: £1,350.00