Famed for his singular prose style as much as for his controversial aestheticist principles, Walter Pater (1839–1894) was one of the great essayists in a century of great essayistic writing. His first book, Studies in the History of the Renaissance — one of the most original and influential texts of the Victorian Aesthetic Movement — was described by Arthur Symons as ‘the most beautiful book of prose in our literature’, and his later work moved Vernon Lee to call him ‘the natural exponent of the highest aesthetic doctrine’. Selected Essays is a generous gathering of Pater’s essays on literature, art, history, philosophy and mythology — all of them, in the words of Oscar Wilde, ‘delicately wrought works of art’. The selection is accompanied by Alex Wong’s critical and biographical introduction and rich explanatory notes.
