Ivor Armstrong Richards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._A._Richards and https://archive.org/details/practicalcritici030142mbp was one of the founders of modern literary criticism. He enthused a generation of writers and readers and was an influential supporter of the young T.S. Eliot.
Principles of Literary Criticism was the text that first established his reputation and pioneered the movement that became known as the ‘New Criticism’. Highly controversial when first published, Principles of Literary Criticism remains a work which no one with a serious interest in literature should ignore. It stands squarely upstream of so much else that has been written in the field of literary criticism.
296 pages in Routledge 2nd edition paperback
ISBN 978-0415254021
Ivor A. Richards