HERVEY (JAMES):
The Works of The late Reverend James Hervey. A. M.
In Six Volumes. Volume I. Containing, Meditations among the Tombs; Reflections on a Flower-Garden; A Descant upon Creation; Contemplations on the Night; Contemplations on the Starry Heavens; and A Winter-piece.
Edinburgh: Printed for Thomas Tegg, the Publisher by Walker & Greig. Edinburgh, 1825. 6 volumes. engraved portrait of Hervey as frontispiece in volume 1, contemporary sheepskin, spine ornately gilt in compartments (worn), red boards, general wear and rubbing to binding, but a decent set with inscriptions in two volumes (pencil?). Hervey (1714 - 1758) is often associated with the Methodists, having come under the influence of John Wesley, who helped him to learn Hebrew, when he was 19; he served as curate to two Methodists, Charles Kinchin and, briefly, George Whitefield. His appeal was largely to evangelicals, and his prose often seems luxurious to the point of absurdity; but he was enormously popular until the end of the 18th century. ESTC N26034 locates copies in Wesley College; Harvard, Library Company of Philadelphia, UCLA, University of Texas, Yale.