HOBBES, transl. | Thucydides. The History of the Grecian War, 1676

HOBBES, THOMAS, TRANSLATOR

THUCYDIDES. THE HISTORY OF THE GRECIAN WAR: IN EIGHT BOOKS, TRANSLATED BY THOMAS HOBBES. ANDREW CLARK FOR CHARLES HARPER, 1676

folio, second edition, additional engraved title, title in red and black, 5 engraved maps and plans of which 4 folding, contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, rebacked retaining most of original spine, tear in first map without loss

SECOND EDITION OF HOBBES'S CELEBRATED TRANSLATION, which was the first directly from the Greek, and established Hobbes at a stroke as a leading Classicist when first published in 1629. The polymath Hobbes even drew the elaborate map of ancient Greece which accompanied the text. Hobbes explained in his verse autobiography that what attracted him to his favourite ancient historian was the "cool dissection of political motivation and the 'realist' approach to power, together with the peculiarly Thucydidean analysis of the role of rhetoric in political debate." (see Noel Malcolm, Oxford DNB). THE MACCLESFIELD COPY.

LITERATURE:

Wing T1134

PROVENANCE:

Armorial bookplate, blind stamp, and shelf mark of the Earls of Macclesfield; The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield: Part 11, Replica Shoes 's, London, 13 March 2008, lot 4054 

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