Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$4491.43 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, large paper copy 103 plates1697 In refurbished contemporary speckled boxed boards. Re-spined to style, raised bands, blind tooling, earlier gilt title to red calf label. Internally, frontis, title page in red & black within ruled borders, [22] ff including subscribers list, preface & life of, 48, [12] letter to the Lord of Chesterfield and Essay on the Georgics, marginal tear at 1 leaf, 49-147, [1], (a1-f4) letter to the Earl of Mulgrave, 201-640 pp, 103 copper engraved pls, lacking M1 (p81/2), odd pagination but bar M1 its complete, p 224 miss-numbered 220, 2 repaired tears to 2 pls (380/546, modern old feps, text block edges sprinkled red, some light browning to a few pls, but the text block is pristine. In verse. Each illustration contains a dedication to some contemporary public figure, listed in the Subscribers list. Illustrated with engravings variously signed: M. Vander Gucht, W. Hollar, F. Cleyn, P. Lombart. Title page is a cancel, reissued from 690 p. edition (Wing V616A). Frontis. plate signed by Michael vander Gucht. Most plates engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar or Pierre Lombart, from drawings by Franz Cleyn. Wing erroneously gives title word "Vergil". (442*282 mm). (ESTC R26296)
Seller: Madoc Books (ABA-ILAB), Llandudno, CONWY, United Kingdom
Price: US$5261.39 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: A good copy of the large paper 1st edition with 103 full page engravings. This is the first illustrated edition of Dryden's famous translations of Virgil's works completed in 1696. The illustrations are spectacular - each dedicated to a subscriber who donated 5 guineas for the privilege. This copy has 2 bookplates on the front pastedown endpaper. The oldest is of William Trumbull Esq (1708-1760), who was the son of Sir William Trumbull and inherited his estate. Sir William (1639-1716) was a Privy Counsellor and friend of John Dryden. This is certainly Sir William's subscription copy for which he paid 5 guineas and has the plate opposite page 125 in the Georgics section dedicated to him. He was particularly fond of the Aeneid, and Dryden notes on the second page of his Postscript to the Reader, that 'If the last Aeneid shine amongst its fellows, 'tis owing to the Commands of Sir William Trumbull, one of the Principal Secretaries of State, who recommended it as his favourite to my Care: and for his sake particularly, I have made it mine.' It likely stayed within the estate (which became the Marquess of Downshire Estate) until purchase for the Fox Pointe Library - their bookplate is the second of the two. The panelled calf boards are contemporary and in good condition with later reinforcement and some wear to corners. The spine, with raised bands and title label, is later but is degrading at the ends and there is splitting at the joints (the boards are attached). Page edges are reddened. Contents: 3 initial blanks; frontispiece by M Vander Gucht (a Flemish engraver working in England); rubricated title page; dedication to the Right Hon Lord Clifford 4pp; Life of Vergil 16pp; plate; Preface to the Pastorals 12pp; Poems to Dryden 5pp; Lists of Subscribers [which also provide a plate index] 4pp; Pastorals p 1-48 with 10 plates; Dedication to Earl of Chesterfield 5pp; Essay on the Georgics 6pp; Georgics pp 49-147 with 20 plates; Dedication (45pp); Aeneis pp 201-619 with 71 plates; Postscript to the Reader p621-623; Notes and Observations p625-640; Finis; 3 final blanks. The contents are very clean. The majority of the text and plates are on very good quality paper which has stayed white, however some sections of text and some plates (circa 18) are brown toned. There are a couple of paper flaws - eg side margin to plate 1 of Pastorals; side edge plate at p 63; a couple of tears - first page of subscribers has lost the bottom corner; small tear in the gutter of plate at p 20; small edge tear plate at p 61; and a printing fault at the top of the plate at p 56. Board size: 45 x 28.8 cm. Please enquire if you would like to see additional images.
Seller: ecbooks, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
John Dryden (trans.); VIRGIL. The Works of Virgil. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1697, 1697.
Price: US$6000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A Desirable and Magnificent Large-Paper copy of the First Edition of Dryden s Virgil, printed at London in 1697 and adorned with 101 full page plates. The definitive English Virgil, one of the greatest works of poetry in English, and one of the most beautiful productions of a literary work in English.The Works of Virgil: containing his Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneis. Translated into English verse; by Mr. Dryden. Adorn d with a hundred sculptures. / London: / Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judges-Head in Fleetstreet, near the Inner-Temple-Gate, MDCXCVII [1697]. The volume is complete in all respects and comprises 640 numbered pages, plus the title, preliminaries and plates; it collates [ ]2, A2, *4, **4, ***2, ****2, *****2, +2, ++2 x1, B-G4, [P]4, [PP]2, H-T4, U2; (a)-(f)4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Zzz4, Aaaa-Ffff4, Gggg2, Hhhh-Iiii4, Kkkk2. The volume may be referenced as Wing V616A, MacDonald 33A, and by ESTC 006128533. The volume is, in itself, one of the most impressive productions of an English poetical work ever published. It contains 101 stunning full-page plates, including the engraved title, most of which were updated from the Ogilby edition of 1654 (humorously, the updating included making the depictions of Aeneas look less like Charles II and more like William III). The plates are after designs by Hollar, Van der Gucht, Cleyn and Lombart. Dryden s Virgil, is all that one could hope for in an English edition of the greatest Roman poet: it combines the finest suite of illustrations to accompany a post-Renaissance Virgil, with the finest translation of Virgil in English (an extraordinary improvement over Ogilby s pedestrian rhymes). The volume is in excellent condition internally, with clean pages, clear print and wide margins throughout. The plates are remarkably fresh, strong and early impressions in nearly all cases. All fine examples. An occasional page or plate is browned; this is owing to the paper used by the printer and is a difficulty in almost all copies of the first edition. The volume was completely rebound probably mid 20th Century, in half calf over marbled boards, which are somewhat scuffed, but generally the binding remains in very good shape with no split hinges or other major problems. The volume measures 45 cm by 29 cm by 8.4 cm; each leaf measures 442 mm by 277 mm. Please see our website for a slideshow with 251 images of this volume including all the plates.
Seller: Third Floor Rare Books, Carp, ON, Canada
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Full paneled mottled calf; triple gilt ruled morocco label to spine. Large paper copy with 101 engraved plates. Light occasional foxing & plate ghosting. Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judges-Head in Fleetstreet, near the Inner-Temple-Gate. Boards separating at hinge but chords remain strong. 9.75 x 14.75 inches; 24cm x 37.5 cm
Seller: William Chrisant & Sons, ABAA, ILAB. IOBA, ABA, Ephemera Society, Fort Lauderdale, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$20000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: An exceptional, and exceptionally large, "large paper" copy. This copy is complete with the engraved frontispiece, the extra plate depicting Vergil reading the Aeneid to Augustus, and all 101 of the magnificent engraved plates by W. Hollar called for in this edition: ten in the Bucolics, twenty in the Georgics, and seventy-one in the Aeneid. Bound in 17th-century paneled calf, very nicely rebacked in the 18th-century. The spine is separated into eight compartments, ruled and tooled in gold, by raised bands. There are two spine labels, one in red and one in green morocco, tooled in gold. The boards are framed by a single gold fillet. Internally, this copy is in superb condition with very little of the browning associated with this edition. The great majority of leaves are crisp, lily-white and wide margined. In fact, this is the largest, and cleanest copy that we have had the pleasure to handle. There are a few incidental marginal tears, only one of which -now mended- enters an engraving (opposite p. 261.) The final leaf is ink-stained. "Dryden's 'translation of Vergil'" says Pope, (whose own translation of Homer was inspired by Dryden's work) "is the most noble and spirited translation I know in any language." (Thomas) "The book was published by subscription, a system of joint-stock patronage now coming into vogue. [.] Dryden's correspondence with [his publisher] Tonson showed a good many bickerings during the publication. One cause of quarrel was Tonson's desire that the book should be dedicated to William III. Dryden honourably refused; but Tonson had the engravings adapted for the purpose by giving to Aeneas the hooked nose of William (Dryden, Letter to his son, 3 Sept. 1697)." (DNB) "Shakespeare probably knew at least the earlier books of the 'Aeneid' in Latin, while Milton's 'Paradise Lost' attempts to provide an English equivalent not only for Vergil's epic themes but even for his syntax, diction, and as far as possible, meter. But in Britain he was also particularly well-served by translations. In the seventeenth-century the epic was translated by Dryden." (Gian Biagio Conte's "Latin Literature, A History").
Seller: Liber Antiquus Early Books & Manuscripts, Chevy Chase, MD, U.S.A.