The Thebaid. Translated into English Verse, with Notes and Observations and a Dissertation upon the Whole by Way of Preface
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1767. First Edition. Two octavo volumes; xv, [1], xxiv, [2], 297, [1]; [2], [299]-621,[1]p., contemporary calf, rebacked. Original boards somewhat dry, with some old flaking and pitting to leather (since stabilized); internally clean, fresh, and sound; Very Good. Engraved armorial bookplate of the Dukes of Beaufort pasted to blank versos of each title page.Translated by William Lillington Lewis; discreet ink hand-stamp of the Liberal Club to a few pages in each volume.
The first full English language translation of Statius' First Century epic (after partial translations by Pope and others). Though this was the only published work by the short-lived William Lillington Lewis (ca. 1742-1772), it is yet considered "...among the best eighteenth-century translations, ably captur[ing] the sublimity, eeriness, and violence of the original" (DNB). Samuel Johnson is listed among the subscribers. ESTC T152286.
Price: $750.00