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.)
works of many of its authors. While in some cases the translations were
reprintings of those already popular, the majority were new translations
made for the _Classical Library_. Of the great popularity of this
_Library_ I do not need to speak; for the translations have been on the
shelves of almost every educated family in England and America for the
last sixty years.
Satisfied with the translations published by Bohn, the reading public of
the latter part of the century made little demand for any other similar
collection of books. The only series of translations of any importance
which was published during these years was _Ancient Classics for English
Readers_, and these contained only selections from the authors with a
great amount of introductory matter. These works, edited by the Reverend
W. Lucas Collins and published by Blackwoods, were sold at two shillings
and sixpence a volume. Of the twenty authors translated in this collection
twelve were Greek. The series was more educational in its nature than any
preceding one and the outlines and analyses in the books were intended for
those who had little or no classical knowledge. The next classical library
of interest to the general reader was _The New Classical Library_ in which
were published translations of Herodotus, Plutarch, and Theophrastus
between 1906 and 1909. The last library and one which bids fair to take
the place of the Bohn _Classical Library_ is the _Loeb Classical Library_,
which was begun in 1912. Once more an attempt is being made to supply the
English reading public with adequate translations of all the classics.
Inasmuch as it is at present incomplete little can be said of it at this
time; but it seems assured of success.
In addition to the translations published in purely Greek and Latin
collections many translations were included in the general collections of
books which became popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century
and are still in vogue. In such libraries as the following were published
translations from the more popular Greek authors, e.g., Aristotle,
Herodotus, Homer, Plato, Plutarch, and the dramatists: _Morley’s Universal
Library_ (1884), _Cassell’s National Library_ (1887), _Lubbock’s Hundred
Best Books_ (1891), _Temple Classics_ (1897), _Golden Treasury Series_
(1901), _World’s Classics_ (1902), _New Universal Library_ (1906), and
_Everyman’s Library_ (1906). There are a few other sporadic publications
in other libraries, which have been noted in the _Survey_ as they occur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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