The Works Of James Barry, Esq. Historical Painter; Formerly Professor Of Painting At The Royal-Academy; Member Of The Clementine Academy At Bologna, &c. Containing, His Correspondence From France And Italy With Mr. Burke - His Lectures On Painting Delivered At The Royal-Academy - Observations On Different Works Of Art In Italy And France - Critical Remarks On The Principal Paintings Of The Orleans Gallery - Essay On The Subject Of Pandora; (Now First Published From Manuscripts, And Illustrated By Engravings From Sketches, Left By The Author.) And His Inquiry Into The Causes Which Have Obstructed The Progress Of The Fine Arts In England - His Account Of The Paintings At The Adelphi - And Letter To The Dilettanti Society. To Which Is Prefixed, Some Account Of The Life And Writings Of The Author. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. (II.)

Vol. I: vii, [i], 558 p., frontis. (port.), [11] pl.: [2] illus. (The pl. are unnumbered, but each carries the number of the page next to which it is to be bound in, viz. pp. 109, 112, 127, 128, 130, 130, 131, 132, 161, 161, 182.) - Vol. II: [iv], 670, [18] p., frontis., [3] pl. (one fold.): [4] illus. (The pl. carry the page-numbers 149, 162, 592.)

The biography of Barry in the first volume includes many letters from Barry and from J.F. Sleigh, W. Burke, R. Burke, Edmund Burke, Barrett, Sir Joshua Reynolds, C. Nugent, W. O'Brien, Sir William Hamilton, the Duke of Richmond, Sir George Saville, 'R.J.L.', Ld. Aldborough, Ld. Radnor, C.J. Fox and Ld. Buchan.

It is followed by Barry's six Academy lectures on painting, which are devoted to: 1. The History And Progress Of The Art; 2, 3. Design; 4. Composition; 5. Chiaro-scuro; 6. Colouring.

The plates in Volume I show: (frontis.) 'James Barry Esq. from an original Cast, taken a short time before his Death'; [1] (p.109) 'Head-dress of the Female peasantry between Rome and Naples', 'Drawing of the model of a bronze Chariot ... at Portici'; [2] (p.112) 'Venus prepared for the Bath ... in stucco ... at Baia', 'General disposition of the Compartments'; [3-8] (pp. 127-132) 'Fig. 1(-22)' [architectural details]; [9] (p.161) 'Egyptian Sculpture of a Lion ... near the Baths'; [10] (p.161) 'Egyptian Sculpture of a Lioness near the Baths of Diocletian at Rome'; [11] (p.182) 'The Eve of Ghiberti ... Florence'. The 'Account' and the 'Lectures' are decorated with two tailpieces (pp. 338, 558).

In the second volume, Barry's Observations and Remarks on works of art, his Fragment on Pandora, his Inquiry into obstructions to the arts in Britain and his Account of his paintings at the Society of Arts are followed by a lengthy Letter detailing his relations with the Royal Academy and a short one about a Naval monument.

The plates in Volume II show: (frontis.) 'Heads of Minerva and Mercury; An intended design for a new Medal ...'; [1] (p.149) 'Bronze figure of Minerva found in the Tomb of Achilles'; [2] (p.162) 'From a drawing of the Frontons of the Temple of Minerva at Athens, done in 1683'; [3] (p.592) 'The celebrated baso-relievo of Minerva Medica on an Altar of Parian marble at Rome'. There are also four in-text illustrations (three of them, tailpieces) (on pp. 129, 415, 474, 645).

This compilation was made by E. Fryer, and reprints earlier publications. The 'Inquiry into the Real and Imaginary Obstructions ...' had been first published in 1775; the 'Account of a Series of Pictures in the Great Room of the Society of Arts ...', in 1783; the 'Letter to the ... President ... of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts' in 1793; the 'Letter to the Dilettanti Society' in 1798 (2nd. ed. with the Appendix, 1799).