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FIRST EDITION OF THIS TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH. 8vo, 183 x 116 mms., [xii], 43 [44 blankl], bound in later vellum-backed boards, leather label, a very good copy. This 1723 edition of the poem Silk-Worms by Marco Girolomo Vida is not only the first edition of this translation into English; it is also the first edition of the first translation of this seminal Italian poem into the English language. The author of the translation is not given on the title-page, nor is it given in the ESTC entry on this printing, but he is John Rooke. That the translator is indeed John Rooke can be pieced together from a later book: Select Translations by "Mr. Rooke", whose main title-page is dated to 1726 (ESTC N21772), but the translation of Vida's Silk-Worms contained therein has a separate title-page dated 1725. The title of the 1723 volume on offer begins "Silk-Worms: A Poem.A Poem. In Two Books…" and the title on the separate 1725 title-page begins similarly (with the only differences being the addition of a definite article and a period replacing the colon):"The Silk-Worms. A Poem. In Two Books…". The 1725 translation has a dedication, addressed to the eminent physician and natural philosopher Richard Mead, which is signed "John Rooke". The body of the 1725 version of the poem, too, is plainly the same work as that included in the 1723 volume, but it is equally plain to see that Rooke revised the opening of the piece sometime between 1723 and 1725. In 1723, Rooke's translation began, What curious Webs the well-fed Worms enclose, How from their Mouths the glossy Matter flows; What wondrous Arts adorn the reptile Race, Their Laws, their Labours, and their Lives to trace … In 1725, Rooke altered the lines to include more complex rhythms, and more decorative diction: What well-wrought Webs the Reptile Race infold, How their rich Mouths emit the Silken Gold; How the sleek Worm her curious Toils contrives, Their Births, their Laws, their Labours, and their Lives … The 1723 first edition on offer is ESTC T101574, which is Foxon S462. The ESTC locates no copies in Ivy League libraries of this first edition. According to ESTC, the only copies in North America are at the Huntington, McGill, St. Louis University, UCLA, University of California at Riverside, University of Illinois, and University of Minnesota. The ESTC also locates four holding libraries in the British Isles: the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, Oxford (which has two copies), and Leeds. No copies located on other continents. This is a somewhat rare book whose authorship has been overlooked.
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