Author: Hazlitt, William [1778 - 1830]. Horne, Richard Henry [or Hengist. 1803 - 1884] - Editor
Title: CHARACTERISTICS: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims With Introductory Remarks by the Editor of the "Monthly Repository."
Description: London: J. Templeman, 248 Regent Street .. J. Miller, 404 Oxford Street, 1837. Second Edition, a reissue of the 1st edition sheets with Horne's new introduction. Cf. NCBEL III, 1232. Original publisher's diamond weave green cloth binding with paper title label to spine. 152 pp. 12mo. 6-7/8" x 4-1/4" Hazlitt "was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and John Keats." First published anonymously in 1823, Hazlitt's Characteristics: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims are a collection of aphorisms modeled explicitly, as Hazlitt noted in his preface, on the Maximes (1665–1693) of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld. Never quite as cynical as La Rochefoucauld's, many, however, reflect his attitude of disillusionment at this stage of his life. Primarily, these 434 maxims took to an extreme his method of arguing by paradoxes and acute contrasts. For example, maxim "CCCCXXVIII": There are some persons who never succeed, from being too indolent to undertake anything; and others who regularly fail, because the instant they find success in their power, they grow indifferent, and give over the attempt." [Wiki]. Volume skillfully rebacked, with average wear. Hand-inked title label. Prior owner signatures to front eps. Very Good.

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