a. [f. prec. + -IC.] Of or pertaining to belles-lettres.
1821. Coleridge, in Blackw. Mag., X. 254. I wish I could find a more familiar word than æsthetic, for works of taste and criticism. It is, however, in all respects better, and of more reputable origin, than belletristic.
1864. Reader, 2 April, 427/2. To start from the first of April the Grand Journal, as a belletristic weekly.
1866. M. Arnold, in Cornh. Mag., XIII. 290. An unlearned belletristic trifler like me.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., § 5. 293. We have risen above the mere belletristic treatment of classical literature.
So † Belles-lettristical a. Obs.
1799. W. Taylor, in Robberds’ Mem., I. 259. His belles-lettristical pedantry.
