The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature

Tobias Smollett's The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature presents the lively world of eighteenth-century literary criticism, where new books are examined, debated, and judged in print. Rather than a single narrative, it reflects the habits of a periodical culture that helped shape taste, reputation, and the public conversation around literature.

Readers interested in the history of criticism, publishing, and the Enlightenment will find a snapshot of how literary authority was made. It is especially useful for anyone studying the era's reading culture, since it captures the energetic, argumentative side of print history as well as the books being discussed, and it shows how reviews could steer literary fashion. It also shows how reviews could steer literary fashion in the period.