An uncommon Pickering printed on Malta

Aristophanes

A metrical version of The Acharnians, The Knights and The Birds. In the last of which a vein of peculiar humor and character is for the first time detected and developed. [Translated by John Hookham Frere.]

London: William Pickering, 1840. First Pickering edition, 3 parts in 1, as issued, small 4to, pp. [2], 70; vi, 7-89, [1]; iv, 5-103, [1] errata for the first 3 parts; three-quarter blue morocco by Lloyd; upper joint rubbed and with small crack starting at bottom, but still very good and sound. With the addition of the rare part 4, The Frogs, 79pp., not called for on the title, but here bound in. Parts 1-3 bear the imprint "Malta: printed at the Government Press, 1839." The last part is "Printed by W. Nicol." In a prefatory statement to The Frogs it is noted that "the greater part of this play had been printed upwards of twenty years ago, having been intended for private distribution; an intention to which the writer adheres, being unwilling to cancel what had already printed and in part distributed…he ventures to present it to his friends and his friends only, satisfied with having secured the existence of the text, upon which much time and attention has been bestowed, but without venturing to obtrude upon the public a work, (in its present form and appearance at least) avowedly defective." The translator is John Hookham Frere, the diplomatist and miscellaneous author. "His translations of Aristophanes cannot fail to be the most lasting memorial of his genius, and the manner in which he has successfully caught the spirit of the original comedies places him in an almost unique place as a translator" (DNB). Not in Keynes; Kelly 1840.1 noting that only about 160 copies were printed with the Pickering title page at the expense of the translator. Item #20093

Price: $750.00