The philological museum
Cambridge: printed by J. Smith ... for Deightons, Cambridge; Rivingtons, London; and Parker, Oxford, 1832-3. First edition, volumes I and II (all published); pp. [2], iv, [iii]-iv, 706; iv, 706; light spotting, else a fine set in original green cloth, gilt-lettered spine; engraved bookplates of Alexander Thomson. "Most members of the Etymological Society wrote for the Philological Museum, and in our effort to get at the community of background, outlook, and philological interest shared by the influential Cambridge scholars, we may briefly consider that publication. Hare, who shared the editorship with Thirwell, explained in the Preface to the first of the only two volumes that were published, that English scholars in the 1820's had contributed little more than a 'mite' to the knowledge of classical antiquity ... it became the purpose of the Museum to foster the 'spirit of philological criticism' ... Actually, the majority of the articles were on classical subjects, with Thirwell the most prolific contributor. But the Museum also contained several articles on English and the new philology, of which Kemble's 'On English Praeterites and Genitives' was the most important, being the first exposition in English of Grimm's analysis of the forms of the verb in Germanic" (Aarsleff, The Study of Language in England 1780-1860, pp. 219-20). Also with articles on 'On English Orthography,' and 'On English Diminutives.'. Item #46422
Price: $1,250.00
