The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides. Translated by Michael Woodhull, Esq.

First edition. Four volumes. 8vo. [4], xvi, 387, [1]; [4], 360; [4], 360; [4], 376 pp. Contemporary marbled calf, flat spines elaborately panelled in gilt, second panels lettered in gilt on red morocco labels, fourth panels numbered in gilt on green morocco labels, the rest with attractive gilt sunburst devices, yellow edges (pink booklabels of the Broughton Baptist Library to the front pastedowns of each volume, a few occasional neat pencilled marginal annotations in an early hand, contents otherwise generally clean and fresh; headcaps chipped, joints slightly rubbed, corners only gently bumped, notwithstanding a most attractive copy). London, John Nichols.

An attractive copy of the scarce first complete English translation of the surviving works of Euripides, by the poet and bibliophile Michael Woodhull (1740-1816). Woodhull just takes the laurel for the first full translation from Robert Potter, who had been the first to translate Aeschylus, since his translation came out in two volumes - the first in 1781 but the second did not appear until 1783. 'Woodhull's translation, accurate and austere, was for many years the standard one, and several of his versions of the plays were reprinted in the nineteenth century' (ODNB). Contemporary reviewers found his poetry rather flatter and his accuracy rather than they preferred, and this version is now scarcer on the market than Potter's.

Stock Code: 253696