[Richard Steele - Joseph Addison] - Le Spectateur ou le Socrate moderne - 1741

[STEELE (Richard) - ADDISON (Joseph)]

The Spectator or the Modern Socrates.

Amsterdam, at the Wetstein Brothers, 1741.

6 volumes in-12 (16.5 x 9.5 cm), speckled calf (period binding), spine with raised bands ornamented, title piece in morocco, library label on the back, tooling on the edges, red edges, [4]-xii-480-[8] ; xii-480 ; [8]-475 ; xii-476 ; [8]-447-21 ; [12]-468 pages (complete). Some rubbing to the bindings (not serious). Good overall condition.

Illustrated with a frontispiece and an off-press engraved portrait of Steele.

Translated from English, The Spectator, had been launched by Steele and his friend Addison in 1711. It was a journal in which the English writer Richard Steele described himself as "the indulgent censor of morals and the true painter of society and feelings".
The Spectator was very popular and reissued many times during the eighteenth century. It offers an ironic view of English society and left a lasting mark on the press with its novelty. Each issue ran around 2000 words, and Addison and Steele shared the editing.
The Spectator in its current form is today a well-known English journal.

A pleasant copy.