Drant Thomas (2 results)

XIV, 282 S. OLn. (minimal berieben u. bestoßen, leicht angestaubt u. fleckig).

First edition of the first translation of Horace published in English, and the first and only edition of Drant's translation of the Book of Lamentations. According to Drant's address to the reader, both authors teach how to avoid sin, but while Horace laughs at it, Jeremiah weeps at it. Drant (c.1540-1578) is a somewhat overlooked figure, yet he stood at the forefront of English translations of classical poetry; Arthur Golding's full translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses followed the next year. Among the shorter occasional poems in Latin and English at the end of this volume are the epigrams mentioned in the title, of which he later published further collections. Although Latin epigrams had appeared earlier in the 16th century from Sir Thomas More and others, Drant's work was the first to marry the classical epigram with the English language, foreshadowing a genre that later flourished among Elizabethan poets such as Ben Jonson. He also devised a set of rules for the metrification of English verse. These have not survived, but they are mentioned in the correspondence between Edmund Spenser and Gabriel Harvey, and were discussed by Philip Sidney, Edward Dyer, and Fulke Greville. The title page verso bears a dedication to Lady Bacon and Lady Cecil; in some copies, this page is blank. Other copies have two errata leaves, not found here. ESTC locates seven copies in the UK (three imperfect) and twelve in the US. ESTC S104229; Grolier, L-W, 75; STC 13805. Small quarto (170 x 126 mm): a4 A-L8 M4; 192 pages, unnumbered. Woodcut initials. Mid-19th-century blue straight-grain morocco by John Rodwell of Oxford, spine lettered in gilt and decorated in blind, covers with wide outer border roll in blind, gilt fleurons at corners, turn-ins and edges gilt, brown endpapers and doublures. Circular book label of Edward Vernon Utterson; later bookplate of Horace Howard Furness. Extremities rubbed, title leaf with repair at upper outer corner touching last three letters of "Medicinable", a2 trimmed close at foot with loss of signature mark, a few headlines and side-notes shaved: overall, very good.