"That had said glass been there set up, nothing more would have been wanting, in order to have taken a man's character, but to have taken a chair and gone softly, as you would to a dioptrical bee-hive, and look'd in,--view'd the soul stark naked;--observ'd all her motions,--her machinations;--traced all her maggots from their first engendering to their crawling forth;--watched her loose in her frisks, her gambols, her capricios; and after some notice of her more solemn deportment, consequent upon such frisks, &c."
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
At least 82 entries in ESTC (1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1786, 1788, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800). Complicated publication history: vols. 1 and 2 published in London January 1, 1760. Vols. 3, 4, 5, and 6 published in 1761. Vols. 7 and 8 published in 1765. Vol. 9 published in 1767.<br>
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See Laurence Sterne, <u>The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman</u>, 9 vols. (London: Printed for D. Lynch, 1760-1767). &lt;<a href="http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&contentSet=ECCOArticles&type=multipage&tabID=T001&prodId=ECCO&docId=CW114738374&source=gale&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE">Link to ECCO</a>&gt;&lt;<a href="http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&contentSet=ECCOArticles&type=multipage&tabID=T001&prodId=ECCO&docId=CW114607600&source=gale&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE">Link to 1759 York edition in ECCO</a>&gt;<br>
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First two volumes available in ECCO-TCP: &lt;<a href="http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004792564.0001.001">Vol. 1</a>&gt;&lt;<a href="http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004792564.0001.002">Vol. 2</a>&gt;. Most text from second London edition &lt;<a href="http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xri:lion&rft_id=xri:lion:ft:pr:Z000046871:0">Link to LION</a>&gt;.<br>
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For vols. 3-4, see ESTC T14705 &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T14705">R. and J. Dodsley, 1761</a>&gt;. For vols. 5-6, see ESTC T14706 &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T14706">T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1762</a>&gt;. For vols. 7-8, see ESTC T14820 &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T14820">T. Becket and P. A. Dehont, 1765</a>&gt;. For vol. 9, <a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T14824">T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1767</a>.<br>
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Reading in Laurence Sterne, <u>Tristram Shandy: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism</u>, Ed. Howard Anderson (New York: Norton, 1980).