Fifth edition. Small 8vo, xvi, 236, [4] pp. Contemporary polished calf, spine gilt in compartments with recent red morocco label, covers with single gilt fillet borders (engraved armorial bookplate of Edward Nicholas Hurt to front pastedown, title-page with contemporary inscription ‘By Dr. John Gregory M.D. author of A Father’s Legacy to his daughter [sic]’, light spots on N3, otherwise pages clean and fresh; front joint neatly repaired, rear joint split but hinges holding firmly, a very good copy). London, J. Dodsley, 1772.
This was the physician John Gregory’s most philosophically interesting contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment. The book grew out of papers presented to meetings of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, or ‘Wise Club’, which Gregory had co-founded with his colleague Thomas Reid in 1758. Subsequent to its first publication in 1765 with 203 pages, Gregory altered the text of A Comparative View several times so that each successive printing by Dodsley differs from previous versions.
