Beschreibung:

VERGILIUS MARO, Publius (70-19 B.C.) The Works ... containing his Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneis . Translated by John Dryden (1631-1700). London: Jacob Tonson, 1697. 2 o (359 x 200 mm). Engraved frontispiece by M. Vander Gucht, title in red and black, 101 engraved plates after F. Cleyn, most by W. Hollar and P. Lombart. (Some browning of plates and text, generally light, occasional small stains, 3E4 with upper corner torn away.) Contemporary panelled calf (restoration to spine, joints cracking, extremities rubbed). Provenance : Thomas Belayse, Viscount Fauconberg (armorial bookplate) -- Horace J. Bridges (inscription dated March 15, 1939). FIRST EDITION OF DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION, an early and highly successful example of publication by subscription. Tonson used the best paper and large type, leaving impressive margins. The 101 subscribers at five guineas had their coat-of-arms printed beneath "sculptures" previously used in the 1654 edition of Ogilby's Virgil. There were a further 252 subscriptions at two guineas. Although Dryden would not agree to dedicate the work to the king, Tonson attempted to flatter William III by altering the plates in order to give Aeneas a hooked nose. Despite the querulous relationship between poet and publisher, Pope told Spence that Dryden received as much as £1200 for his translation, and his success set a precedent for Pope's own translation of Homer. Ashley II, p. 95; Lynch Tonson pp. 119-121; Macdonald 33a; Wing V616.