Author: DODSLEY (Robert):
Title: The Economy Human Life. In Two Parts. By R. Dodsley.
Description: Kelso: Printed by James Ballantyne, For W. Creech , Bell and Bradfute, Manners and Miller, and A. Constable, Edinburgh. 1802. 8vo, 210 x 127, pp. xxiv. 134. including half-title, contemporary calf, gilt spine, red leather label; front joint a little rubbed, other slight wear to but a very good copy. Although this work has been attributed to other 18th century, it was in fact Dodsley's work. The anonymous editor of this edition was clearly not taken in by the words on the title-page of the first edition, "Translated from an Indian manuscript, written by an ancient Bramin. To which is prefixed, an account of the manner in which the said manuscript was discover'd. In a letter from an English gentleman, now residing in China, to the Earl of ****." In his Oxford DNB entry, James E. Tierney asserts, "During the 1750s Dodsley reached the zenith of his career: his book production reached new highs, he became the London publisher of belles-lettres, he introduced many significant works and new talent, and his own pen enjoyed a few triumphs. He opened the decade with his own popular compilation of moral aphorisms, The Oeconomy of Human Life by an 'Ancient Bramin' (1750), a work that was soon translated into five languages and became the most frequently printed work of the entire eighteenth century." This is only the second Kelso imprint that has passed through my hands in 25 years of database bookselling.

Keywords: morality provincial imprint prose


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