Virgil; Sotheby, William, Translator; Vanière, Jacques; Murphy, Arthur, Translator

The Georgics of Virgil. [With:] The Bees, from the Latin of J. Vaniere

Middletown, Conn. Printed for I. Riley, 1808. 12mo, [8], 120, [2], v, [3], 10–59 pages, with frontispiece. Bound in period full leather with gilt-lettered label and bands to spine. With the ownership label of Joshua B. Sharpless, likely Joshua Baldwin Sharpless (1789–1866), of the prominent Sharpless family of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Georgics of Virgil, translated by William Sotheby and issued with Arthur Murphy’s translation of The Bees from the Latin of Jacques Vanière, is an early American edition of one of the great classical poems of agriculture and rural life. Virgil’s Georgics treats farming, husbandry, viticulture, animal care, labor, seasonality, and the moral dignity of cultivated rural existence, combining practical agricultural subjects with elevated poetic and philosophical reflection. The accompanying Bees extends the agrarian theme through a poetic treatment of beekeeping, making the volume especially appealing as a classical work touching on agriculture, natural history, rural economy, and apiculture. Published in Middletown, Connecticut in 1808 for the New York bookseller I. Riley, this edition reflects the early American interest in classical literature as well as practical and poetic writings on the land. Some slight rubbing and wear, foxing and discoloration, else in good + condition. Item #364

Price: $120.00