This book brings together many of John Barrell's essays - some written especially for this volume - on the history and politics of culture in eighteenth-century Britain. It addresses a wide range of cultural practices - painting, sculpture, poetry, the law, the division of labour - discussing them in relation to such issues as sexuality, the body and representation and the distinction between public and private. The Birth of Pandora will interest all those involved with or interested in cultural history and cultural studies.

List of Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Foreword - The Private Comedy of Thomas Rowlandson - The Public Figure and the Private Eye: William Collins's 'Ode to Evening' - The Public Prospect and the Private View: The Politics of Taste in Eighteenth-Century Britain - 'The Dangerous Goddess': Masculinity, Prestige and the Aesthetic in Early Eighteenth-Century Britain - Visualising the Division of Labour: William Pyne's Microcosm - Imaginary Treason, Imaginary Law: The State Trials of 1794 - The Birth of Pandora and the Origin of Painting - Notes - References - Index