[Literature] [Homer] Chapman, Geo(rge). The Whole Works of Homer; Prince of Poetts In his Iliads, and Odysses...

London: Printed (by Richard Field and William Jaggard) for Nathaniell Butter, (ca. 1616). Two parts in one volume. Folio. (xxii), (ii, errata), 341, (1), (8), (6, blanks); (xii), 376 (but 374), (2) pp.; with a separate letterpress title-page for the Odyssey; prelims in first part bound out of order; A5r in second part starting "Poet" instead of "Poet." (according STC, from the 1634 reprint). Translated from the Greek by Chapman. Illustrated with a tipped-in engraved general title-page by William Hole, engraved dedication leaf to Henry Prince of Wales (bound before the Odyssey), and woodcut initials, and head- and tail-pieces throughout text; without engraved portrait of Chapman (as called for in STC 13624, and "sometimes" found according to Pforzheimer). Full contemporary brown calf, stamped in blind, rebacked to style, orange gilt morocco spine label, boards lightly worn; red speckled edges; endpapers sometime renewed; engraved title-page toned and lightly soiled, edges to same with small chips, bottom corner of same repaired; scattered spotting and soiling to text leaves; contemporary ownership signature of Christopher Stephenson in upper margin of Ee1v; verso gutter of engraved dedication repaired. STC 13624; Pforzheimer 169 and 170 (and see note in 169)

Scarce first collected edition of George Chapman's translation of the works of Homer. The first complete translation in English, Chapman's work was extremely influential on English literature, and until Alexander Pope's translations in the early 18th century, was the primary and most accessible edition for English readers. Praised by the likes of John Keats, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and George Saintsbury, the latter who wrote, that "Chapman is far nearer Homer than any modern translator in any modern language."

Each part was first printed separately, ca. 1611-12 (Iliad) and ca. 1614-15 (Odyssey), with some remainder copies then bound together with a general engraved title-page as seen here. A reprint was issued in 1634, and according to Pforzheimer, in 1640 the Iliad was reprinted by Thomas Harper. This copy without the unsigned sheet containing the sonnets to Viscounts Cranborne and Rochester and to Sir Edward Philips, which according to Pforzheimer is a "great rarity" (only six copies with it were traced by him).

[Literature] [Homer] Chapman, Geo(rge). The Whole Works of Homer; Prince of Poetts In his Iliads, and Odysses...