Aeneidea, critical, exegetical and aesthetical Remarks on the Aeneis, with a personal Collation of all the first class Mss., upwards of one hundred second class Mss., and all the principal Editions. [Vols I-IV and Indices]. London and Edinburgh [printed Leipzig], William and Norgate (Vol. I); Dublin: Printed [at the University Press] for the Trustees of the Author (Vols II and III); and Meissen (Indices) … 1873-1892.

HENRY, James.

Verlag: Erscheinungsdatum: 1873

Four parts in 1 vols and one vol. of Indices, large 8vo., pp. I: lxxxvi, [4, errata and half-title], 197, [1 blank], [1, colophon], [1 blank]; [4, titles], 197-592; [4], 593-864; II: [4], 350, [2 blank]; [4], 351-638; [4], 639-861, [1 blank]; III: [4], 298; [4], 299-623, [1 blank]; [4], 627-954, [2 blank], [4, cancel titles]; IV: [4], 330, [1, errata], [1 blank]; Indices: [2], 117, [1, third index]; half-titles; with both the cancelland and cancel titles bound in to the third part of vol. III with a printed 'note to the binder'; title-page to Indices dusty, else exceptional copies, partially unopened in the original fragile printed wrappers, slightly dusty, chipped and creased in places; one or two notes to wrappers; manuscript presentation slip bound in to the Indices, inscribed by the Trustees to James Gordon, Librarian of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, dated 'Stormanstown House, Glasnevin, 15 Nov 92'; library stamps to wrappers and title-pages throughout; preserved in a green cloth clamshell box.First editions of all parts of this remarkable, and largely overlooked, lifetime's work in classical manuscript studies, with a remarkable publishing history of over twenty years, all preserved in the original wrappers. After a medical career and with the help of his mother's inheritance James Henry (1798-1876) devoted his later life, from 1841, to Virgil studies, working towards the collation of all extant manuscripts in libraries around Europe, the hallmarks of his work being careful exegesis and, above all, a deep mistrust of emendation. The first product of his labours was Notes on a Twelve Years' Voyage of Discovery in the First Books of the Eneis, a more accessible work than Aeneidea and largely autobiographical; published in Dresden in 1853, where James was resident and also publishing his poetry. Henry was accompanied in his voyaging by his wife, who died during a journey to Italy in 1849, and daughter Kathleen Olivia, totally devoted to his academic outlook, to whom the first part of the Aeneidea is dedicated: 'for twenty years almost the whole of her adult life up to the present moment ever beside me, at home and abroad, at the desk alike and in the public library, suggesting, correcting, advising, assisting, and cheering me on with all an affectionate daughter's zeal solicitude, and devotion …' The Henrys travelled between libraries on foot, crossing the Alps numerous times even in deep snow. The first part of Aeneidea is evidence of this, with its dedication to Kathleen Olivia signed from Dublin; the preface signed Dresden and the sheets printed in Leipzig; the final page, which was reprinted in the second part four years later, is signed Livorno, 12 January 1867, and Dublin, 26 December 1872. Publishing the Aeneidea was to be further complicated, first by the sudden death of Kathleen Olivia on 11 December 1872, cruelly just before the completion of the work her father's dedication predates her death by only a few months followed in 1876 by the demise of Henry, 'accelerated by the death of his … fellow labourer and only child' according to his literary executor and fellow Irishman, John Fletcher Davies. Only one part of Aeneidea, the Dresden 'fragment' of 176 pages, had been published, as Henry's obituary states: 'he could not content himself with either his own work or the work of any known printer, and so preferred the postponement of the remainder till after his death … The manuscript is thought to be in such beautifully clear and accurate writing that its publication will not be difficult'. Davies was the first of the Trustees to take on Henry's work, quickly publishing in Dublin the second and third parts of Vol. I (1877) and the entirety of Vol. II (1878-9). This fairly impressive rate of publication was followed, however, by a gap of two years, with the first part of Vol. III appearing in 1881, likewise in Dublin. After the second part of 1882 there was then a gap of seven years, which only ended with Dav. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers G1951

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Aeneidea, critical, exegetical and ...
Erscheinungsdatum: 1873
Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers