Apuleius. Translated from the original Latin by Thomas Taylor. The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass, and Philosophical Works of Apuleius. London: Sold by Robert Triphook...and Thomas Rodd, 1822
Half brown morocco over brown cloth boards, gilt spine. All edges gilt., xxiv, 400 + [10] pp. of suppressed passages bound in.
A little light foxing but a very good, clean copy., Taylor (1758-1835) received an irregular education. As a young man he obtained a clerkship in Lubbock's bank, but devoted himself to the translation and exposition of Plato, Aristotle, and the Neo-Platonists and Pythagoreans. Though defective in critical scholarship, never doubting the historic personality of Orpheus and the authenticity of the Hymns and esteeming the neo-Pythagorean matehmatics the true science, he was heartily welcomed when he visited Oxford in 1802 and was widely read, particularly in America. His style, formed on the Johnsonian model, retained its stiffness...But with an ardour that neither neglect nor contempt could damp, he plodded laboriously on until he had achieved a work never so much as contemplated in its entirety by any of his predecessors. (D.N.B.)
$US750
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