This short work is a collection of four essays by nineteenth-century author and transcendentalist Samson Reed. "A Dissertation: On the Evidence from the Light of Nature of a Future Retribution" is a religious treatise that laid the groundwork for his aesthetic theory; the "Oration on Genius" is a vibrant speech which is probably America's earliest Romantic manifesto; "Observations on the Growth of the Mind" reflects the aesthetic theory embraced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the New England transcendentalists; and Reed's preface to the 1838 edition of "Observations," which showed his growing disenchantment with the transcendentalist movement he helped to inspire.

Edited by George F. Dole, the collection contains a preface by Sylvia Montgomery Shaw giving the historical context to these writings.

Rev. Dr. George F. Dole holds a B.A. from Yale, an M.A. from Oxford, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Now professor emeritus, Dr. Dole taught ancient languages, the Bible, and theology at the Swedenborg School of Religion in Newton, MA. His recent translations of the New Century Editions of Heaven and Hell, Divine Love and Wisdom, and Divine Providence have won critical acclaim. He is also the author of Freedom and Evil and Sorting Things Out.