About this ebook
Offering a fresh perspective on a misunderstood eighteenth-century novelist, this study situates Tobias Smollett (1721-71) as the chief witness to the birth of the modern commercial art market. By examining the critical remarks and characters in Smollett's journalism and histories, the novels Peregrine Pickle and Humphry Clinker, and Travels Through France and Italy, the novelist is portrayed as fully involved with the commercial art market even while he offered perceptive criticism of it. Smollett's complete reviews of fine art from The Critical Review are published for the first time in an annotated appendix, while his involvement with the lavish illustration of his massive Complete History of England is analyzed in a second appendix. The approach to fine art that emerges from his writing modifies our understanding of the public art market of today, making this study of interest not only to Smollett scholars and students of eighteenth-century fiction but also to those interested in the history of art and aesthetic appreciation. William L. Gibson is an independent scholar.
About the author
William L. Gibson taught literature for two years at Lehman College, CUNY, and currently teaches at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
