This lovely little book contains one of the most notable poems in the history of literature. The book is 16mo in size (6.5" x 4") and contains 142 pages. It is bound in beautiful full tree-calf and was originally purchased from Sotheby's. There is ornate gilt decorating the volume and the gilt is still bright. The endpapers are marbled and there are inner dentelles. The frontispiece is present and so is its tissue guard. All edges are marbled and there is virtually no foxing. There are several lovely plates in the book and they all have their tissue guards. There is a very slight split where the extreme top left of the front board meets the spine. This may have been repaired at some time in the past. Truly a beautiful little volume and very important literarily. An Essay On Man is the best known poem of Alexander Pope. Written in "Heroic Couplets", it is divided into four Epistles dealing respectively with man's relation to the universe, to himself, to society, and to happiness. The poem expresses a deistic philosophy, being intended to set forth a coherent scheme of the universe, to "vindicate the ways of God to man" and to declare that "whatever is, is right". It is an optimistic work and one that can still be enjoyed today. Alexander Pope was an English poet and satirist and the literary dictator of his time. He was regarded as the height of English neoclassicism. This work is remarkable as well as important. We are pleased to send pictures on request.