Epea pteroenta or the Diversions of Purley

London: For the Author, 1798. Hardcover (Full Leather). Very Good. 10 1/2" x 8 3/4", wide margined copy. Wear at corners, all hinges cleanly split but attached by cords. Vol 1 is a second edition, Vol 2 is the first (1805), together the first preferred and complete edition. Frontis in vol 1. A few spots of light foxing, but generally clean and bright internally. Vol 2 lacks volume label on spine. Of Tooke, William Hazlitt said: "his intellect was like a bow of polished steel, from which he shot sharp-pointed poisoned arrows at his friends in private, at his enemies in public." and on The Diversions: "The great thing which Mr. Horne Tooke has done, and which he has left behind him to posterity, is his work-on Grammar, oddly enough entitled The Diversions of Purley. Many people have taken it up as a description of a game, others supposing it to be a novel. It is, in truth, one of the few philosophical works on Grammar that were ever written." Size: Quarto (4to). 2-volume set (complete). Text is clean and unmarked. Heavy foxing front/rear pages, but body of book mostly clean and unfoxed. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: 1-2 kilos. Category: Philosophy; Inventory No: 037471. (Inventory #: 037471)