75/3332 [Spectator]. Bickerstaff, I. (= R. Steele), Addison, J. a.o. The lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. (= Tatler). London, printed for E. and R. Nutt etc., 1728, 5 vols., engr. portrait, contemp. unif. calf. w. double fillet border on both covers, spine in 6 compartments and red mor. letterpiece.

- Occas. sl. yellowed/ foxed; some offsetting from turn ins; sl. cut short in lower margin, not touching text; vol. I partly wormholed in lower blank margin, not touching text. Leather over spines cracked; a few corners bumped; covers trifle/ sl. rubbed/ chafed; spine-ends of vols. I, III and V chipped.

= The Tatler, a British literary and society journal, established by Richard Steele in 1709 and discontinued only two years later. In the tri-weekly journal Steele, who used the nom de plume "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire", mixed real gossip heard in London coffee houses with invented stories of his own. Jonathan Swift is also said to have occasionally contributed to The Tatler: no. 32 (a letter in ridicule of some affected ladies of the period), 230 (a letter on books and writing) and 238 (the poem A Description of a City Shower). Rare edition.