Nicolas udall translator (1 risultati)

Condizione: Good. First Edition. First English translation of Erasmus' collection of Classical wisdom. Small octavo, *-**8 ***4 a-z8 A-X8 Y6, lacking leaf z1 (p. 177) and blank leaf Y6., 376 leaves foliated. [xx], 176, 178-345, [12] pp. (62 '53', 64 '55', 83 '81', 100 '84', 119 '118', 122 '101', 144 '143', 222 '224', 224 '222', 225 '522', 273 '275', 275 '273', 277 '279', 279 '277', 311 '310'). Blackletter type on laid paper, decorative capitals, colophon with printer's device at rear. Bound in near-contemporary calf ruled in blind, all edges stained red. Good with heavy wear to covers, chipping at head of spine; lacking two leaves as noted. Margins tightly trimmed with frequent shaving to sidenotes, slight worming to lower left margin corner through p. 112, light toning and dampstaining to contents. Evidence of bookplate removal to front pastedown, round wax stain to p. 104 and facing page, several inkstains. Generations of ownership signatures to title and colophon pages, occasional ink marginalia. Devereux 3.3.1. The Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam was the greatest Renaissance scholar in Northern Europe. His Apophthegmata, a collection of Greek and Latin adages and anecdotes, was first published in Latin in 1531. The English playwright Nicolas Udall translated Books III and IV of the lengthy work into English, intending his portion to be the first in a series of pocket-sized scholarly works. It was, however, a dangerous time to publish Erasmus. The humanist's criticism of clerical corruption had paved the way for Martin Luther's denunciation of the Catholic Church. There was a conservative backlash against reform after the 1540 execution of Henry VIII's fixer Thomas Cromwell, who had patronized both Udall and his publisher, Richard Grafton. In 1541 Grafton was imprisoned for publishing an epistle by a Lutheran reformer. He was sentenced again in 1543 'for printing off such bokes as wer thought to be unlawfull.' Grafton and Udall did better under Henry's successor Edward VI, who after his ascension ordered that a copy of Erasmus's commentary on the New Testament, edited by Udall, be kept in every church in England. Among the faded names beautifully inscribed in this copy is that of Philemon Holland (1552-1637), whose fame as a translator surpassed that of Udall. He gave the world the first complete translation of Livy into English, and followed it with Pliny the Elder's Natural History. Udall's rendering of Latin into English would have interested Holland professionally, though he doubtless owned a copy of the original as well.…