Salmacis, Lyrian & Sylvia, Forsaken Lydia, the Rape of Helen, a Comment thereon with Several other Poems and Translations.
London: Printed by W. Hunt, for Thomas Dring, at the sign of the George, near Cliffords-Inn in Fleetstreet, 1651.
Price: $5,500.00
Octavo: 17 x 10.8 cm. [4], 102, 95-169, [1] pp. Collation: π2 (engraved frontis., t.p.), A-F8, G4, G-K8, L6
FIRST EDITION, first issue.
A very good, crisp copy, complete with the etched frontispiece, bound in contemporary sheepskin (spine repaired, some surface abrasion, mild wear to extremities). Minor blemishes as follows: light dampstain to leaves B6-7 and gathering G; small, light stains on leaves D1, E, G8. A few other scattered blemishes. Margins of final three gatherings with light soiling. The book was reissued in the same year under the title “Poems and Translations, amorous, lusory, morall, divine”.
First edition of Sir Edward Sherburne’s translations of several French and Italian poems on classical themes: "Salmace" by Girolamo Preti (1582-1626), "Lidia abbandonata" by Giambattista Marino (1569-1625), and "Metamorphose de Lyrian et de Sylvie" by Marc Antoine Gérard (1594-1661). The book also includes Sherburne’s translation of “Ἁρπαγὴ Ἑλένης” (“The Rape of Helen”) an epyllion by the late Roman age poet Colluthus of Lycopolis (fl. 500). Sherburne was encouraged in his poetic efforts by the poet and classical scholar Thomas Stanley, to whom this volume is dedicated.
The fine etched frontispiece shows four scenes illustrating the main works, including Helen being taken aboard Paris’ ship; and Lyrian turning into ivy and twining around Sylvia, who has been transformed into an elm.
Grolier, Wither to Prior, 798; Hayward 102; Wing S-3223; ESTC R203560