English Translations from the Greek: A Bibliographical SurveyFoster, Finley Melville Kendall
General
English Translations from the Greek: A Bibliographical Survey
Foster, Finley Melville Kendall
Greek literature -- Translations into English -- Bibliography; Thesis (Ph. D.)
And finally at the conclusion of the revolution the English nation became
one of the guarantors of the constitutional monarchy established in
Greece. Thus through the political events of the decade 1820‐1830 Greece
was kept in the eye of the British public.
All of these factors, the literary interest in Greece and Greek, the Elgin
marbles, and the Greek Revolution, created a desire for things Greek on
the part of the English public. Of these three forces the third was of
course effective only on the generation then living; but the other two
lost none of their power as the century proceeded. In fact the interest in
Greek literature as literature, I do not say as a language, was much
stronger at the close of the century than at the beginning, largely, I
think, because of the efforts of such men as Matthew Arnold, Benjamin
Jowett, and Richard Claverhouse Jebb. The work of these men has been ably
carried on by Sir Gilbert Murray and J. P. Mahaffy into our own century.
Consequently when one turns to view the progress of Greek translation
through these years, one is not surprised to find an abundant and
increasingly large output. The demand for translations grew almost in
direct ratio as the study of the Greek language and the reading of the
literature in the original declined. The interest in Greece which had been
fostered and developed through the century could only be satisfied by an
abundance of translations whose range covered the whole of Greek
literature.
This interest in and demand for the works of these ancient authors
produced a form of publication which was new to the reading public,
namely, the classical library. The first of these was _The Works of the
Greek and Roman Poets, translated into English verse_. This work was
published in eighteen volumes between the years 1809 and 1812; the volumes
were then gathered together and given the uniform date of 1813. The next
library to follow this was _Valpy’s Family Classical Library_, published
between 1830 and 1834. The works, as was also the case with the _Greek and
Roman Poets_, were reprintings of translations already in existence. The
emphasis was placed on Greek rather than Latin literature; for of the
twenty‐seven authors represented in the collection, sixteen were Greek.
Another significant fact in regard to this _Library_ was its price; the
books were sold at four shillings and sixpence a volume, a price which
placed the translations within the reach of all possible purchasers. The
last and probably the most famous library before the turn of the century
was Bohn’s _Classical Library_. This collection of books, at five
shillings a volume, was published in great part between 1848 and 1863. The
aim of the _Classical Library_ was to furnish the British public with
cheap translations of all the important classical works. In the
accomplishment of this purpose the _Library_ was much extended in scope
beyond _Valpy’s_ and made more complete by the translation of all the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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