A French Grammar and Syntaxe: Contayning most Exact and certaine Rules . of the French Language. Translated into English: with many Additions and Explications: peculiarly usefull to us English . by W.A.

London, printed by B.A. and T.F. for Rich: Mynne 1634. Octavo contemporary calf (labels added and spine sometime repaired at the top, now worn again); [22],445. Signs of use and small flaws - pieces from three margins being the worst; quite a good, fresh copy. Without the extra engraved title as seems common enough. Only edition of the English translation? Maupas' original first appeared in 1607 with a second in 1625, a third in 1632 and other printings in between and later. A Latin translation appeared in 1623. "Of paramount importance for the history of the formation of classic French," said Lucy M. Gay in 'Modern Philology' (December 1914) and remarked that she wondered at times while reading it whether there had been any progress in grammar-making since it was published. The finer grammatical arguments the rest of her essay explores somehow escape me. Like many of the more important French grammars Maupas' work was produced not for the French but for the English aristocracy. This translation might be considered a dumbing down. In his dedication to the Duke of Buckingham Aufeild tells us that Maupas taught the duke's father and his wording suggests that he is angling to be the current duke's teacher.…