The first edition was published in two 8vo volumes, the first volume in 1821 with the following title-page: ‘Table-Talk; or, Original Essays. By William Hazlitt. London: John Warren, Old Bond-Street 1821’; the second volume in 1822 with the following title-page: ‘Table-Talk; or, Original Essays. By William Hazlitt. Vol. II. London: Printed for Henry Colburn and Co. 1822.’ Both volumes were printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars. The first volume contained the following Advertisement: ‘It may be proper to observe, that the Essays “On the Pleasure of Painting” and “On the Ignorance of the Learned,” in this Volume, have already appeared in periodical publications.’ The second volume contained a list of ‘errata.’ The second edition appeared in 1824 in two 8vo volumes. The title-page ran as follows: ‘Table-Talk, or Original Essays on Men and Manners. Second Edition. London: Printed for Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1824.’ The volumes were printed by J. Nichols and Son, 25 Parliament Street. This edition, apparently a mere reprint of the first edition, is here reprinted verbatim except that the mistakes referred to in the ‘errata’ of the first edition have been corrected. In 1825 two 8vo volumes appeared in Paris (A. & W. Galignani) entitled, ‘Table-Talk: or Original Essays, By William Hazlitt.’ This edition omitted several of the essays included in the English editions of Table Talk, and included several papers which were afterwards published in England in The Plain Speaker. An Advertisement (see notes to this volume) was prefixed to Vol. I. In the third edition (2 vols. foolscap 8vo 1845) entitled ‘Table-Talk: Original Essays on Men and Manners. By William Hazlitt. Edited by his Son. London: C. Templeman, 6, Great Portland Street,’ some essays were omitted, the order of the essays was altered, and two essays, ‘On Travelling Abroad’ and ‘On the Spirit of Controversy,’ were added. The fourth edition (1857–1861) is a reprint or a re-issue of the third. In the fifth edition (1 volume 8vo, 1869, Bell & Daldy), edited by Mr. William Carew Hazlitt, the text and arrangement of the first two editions are restored, but the essays are divided into three Series. In a later edition edited by Mr. Hazlitt (1 vol. 8vo Bohn’s Library, 1891) the essays are arranged continuously.
| ESSAY I. | |
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| On the Pleasure of Painting | 5 |
| ESSAY II. | |
| The same Subject continued | 13 |
| ESSAY III. | |
| On the Past and Future | 21 |
| ESSAY IV. | |
| On Genius and Common Sense | 31 |
| ESSAY V. | |
| The same Subject continued | 42 |
| ESSAY VI. | |
| Character of Cobbett | 50 |
| ESSAY VII. | |
| On People with one Idea | 59 |
| ESSAY VIII. | |
| On the Ignorance of the Learned | 70 |
| ESSAY IX. | |
| The Indian Jugglers | 77 |
| ESSAY X. | |
| On Living to one’s-self | 90 |
| ESSAY XI. | |
| On Thought and Action | 101 |
| ESSAY XII. | |
| On Will-making | 113 |
| ESSAY XIII. | |
| On certain Inconsistencies in Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Discourses | 122 |
| ESSAY XIV. | |
| The same Subject continued | 131 |
| ESSAY XV. | |
| On Paradox and Common-place | 146 |
| ESSAY XVI. | |
| On Vulgarity and Affectation | 156 |
| ESSAY XVII. | |
| On a Landscape of Nicholas Poussin | 168 |
| ESSAY XVIII. | |
| On Milton’s Sonnets | 174 |
| ESSAY XIX. | |
| On going a Journey | 181 |
| ESSAY XX. | |
| On Coffee-house Politicians | 189 |
| ESSAY XXI. | |
| On the Aristocracy of Letters | 205 |
| ESSAY XXII. | |
| On Criticism | 214 |
| ESSAY XXIII. | |
| On great and little Things | 226 |
| ESSAY XXIV. | |
| On familiar Style | 242 |
| ESSAY XXV. | |
| On Effeminacy of Character | 248 |
| ESSAY XXVI. | |
| Why distant Objects please | 255 |
| ESSAY XXVII. | |
| On Corporate Bodies | 264 |
| ESSAY XXVIII. | |
| Whether Actors ought to sit in the Boxes | 272 |
| ESSAY XXIX. | |
| On the Disadvantages of intellectual Superiority | 279 |
| ESSAY XXX. | |
| On Patronage and Puffing | 289 |
| ESSAY XXXI. | |
| On the Knowledge of Character | 303 |
| ESSAY XXXII. | |
| On the Picturesque and Ideal | 317 |
| ESSAY XXXIII. | |
| On the Fear of Death | 321 |