Fables Bidpay (1 results)
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Published by London Printed for S. Birt and Dan Browne, 1754
Seller: J & S WILBRAHAM, LONDON, United KingdomJ & S WILBRAHAM
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
£ 385.00
£ 12.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basket12mo, pp [2],ix,[9],231,[1], with an engraved frontispiece and 20 engraved plates, each having three images depicting a fable specified in the text, bound in contemporary calf, sometime neatly rebacked [if in slightly lighed dyed calf], with raised bands and red label, a very good neat clean copy, THIRD EDITION; Joseph Harris's…pioneering English translation of Bidpay first appeared in 1699, taken from a slightly earlier French source of Gilbert Gaulbin, itself translated from a Persian original. Bidpay became a popular fable source in both French and English, though never to rival Aesop. All sources give the original of this translation as the work of Joseph Harris, an obscure dramatist and actor, first published in 1698, but this original has proved elusive to track down. The two editions before this one, both by Birt, appeared in 1747 and 1752 respectively, and follow the present format closely. The preface gives no further clue as to origins of the text, and it is hard to beleive that any earlier editions than 1747 exist, at least in the format of instruction of children.
