Miscellany poems. The first [- sixth] part of miscellany poems. Containing variety of new translations of the ancient poets: together with several original poems. By the most eminent hands. Publish'd by Mr. Dryden.

DRYDEN, John.

Published by Printed for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear's Head over-against Katherine-Street in the Strand. 1716, 1716

About this Item

Vol. I & II, 4th edition. Six volumes, engraved frontispiece to each volume. 12mo. Contemporary panelled calf, raised & gilt banded spines; lacking spine labels (replaced with simple gilt vol. numbers), minor cracks to some joints, sl. wear to head of four spines & tail of one, some light browning & occasional foxing. ESTC N6906 / N70161 / N49205 / N64834 / T214159 / T175048 Dryden himself credited his publisher Jacob Tonson (the Elder) with the idea of a new verse translation of Virgil and it was [their] partnership that established the direction of English literary translation in the later seventeenth century. [Tonson's] role in the publication of translations which went hand in hand with a series of monumental editions of the 'classics' of English literature and fine editions of Greek and Latin texts in the original languages - is an outstanding example of the conflation of astute commercialism with a sense of a national literary mission. The Poetical Miscellanies of 1684-1709 [were] an occasional series of fat volumes of new, mainly short poems by a wide range of hands, each containing a substantial proportion of translations principally from the classics, to which Dryden became the leading contributor and sometimes effectively editor. Allowing translators to select excerpts from the originals on the basis of their particular appeal reduced the danger of longeurs for both translator and reader, and the user-friendly miscellany format itself played an important role in mediating classical culture to a newly heterogeneous audience. ref: Oxford History of Literary Translation in English, Vol. 3, pp40-41.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Miscellany poems. The first [- sixth] part of miscellany poems. Containing variety of new translations of the ancient poets: together with several original poems. By the most eminent hands. Publish'd by Mr. Dryden.
• Publisher: Printed for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear's Head over-against Katherine-Street in the Strand. 1716
• Publication Date: 1716
• Binding: Hardcover