Author: KNIGHT (William Payne):
Title: An Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste. The Third Edition.
Description: London: Printed by Luke Hansard...For T. Payne...and J. White..., 1806. 8vo, pp. xx, 473 [474 blank], contemporary calf, spine ornately gilt in compartments, red morocco label; joints cracked but reasonably firm, spine rubbed and dried, top and base of spine chipped, some flaking of leather. Knight's book, first published in 1805, was written in immediate response to Uvedale Price's Essay on the Picturesque, as well as Edmund Burke's earlier Sublime and Beautiful. Knight begins with Longinus, whom he finds a more reliable guide to the sublime than Burke. Knight's emphasis on the aesthetic values of light and colour unassociated with any particular emotions or psychological states represents one of his contributions in this work to the advancement of aesthetic theories. The work, however, ranges over a number of topics, and Knight's constantly-changing attention span throws up some surprising observations, e. g., "Imitative art separates [the] faults and defects from the magic, which recommends them in real life: for figures in stone or on canvass, excite too little either of social or sexual sympathy to engage the feelings of the man in support of the theories of the philosopher."

Keywords: aesthetics philosophy prose


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