The Smith of Smiths

First published in 1934, this biography follows the clergyman and wit Sydney Smith from his Salisbury childhood and Edinburgh years through the founding of the Edinburgh Review, country livings in Yorkshire, and a later London reputation in Whig society. Pearson builds the life from letters, table talk, and pamphlets: the jokes, the sermons, and Smith's arguments for Catholic relief and parliamentary reform. Friends and targets from the Holland House circle appear as an audience. The book is a portrait of a talker's career, not a history of the Review alone.

Quarter bound in blue cloth, Cockerell marbled paper boards. Pink endleaves. Pale brown slipcase.