Heading:
Author: Homer
Title: The Whole Works of Homer; Prince of Poetts. In his Iliads and Odysses. Translated according to the Greeke, by Geo. Chapman. [bound with] Batrachomyomachia
Place Published: London
Publisher:Printed for Nathaniell Butter
Date Published: [1611-1615?]
Description:

3 volumes in 1 (with Odyssey preceding Iliad, which is followed by Batrachomyomachia). [8], 376. [2]; [24] (incl. blank at front, not present but replaced with modern blank), 341, [9]; [8], 207, [5] pp. A3-6, B-Q6, R8 (with R8 a blank, lacking, replaced with modern blank), S-Z6, Aa-Hh6, Ii8 (with Ii8 a blank, lacking, replaced with modern blank); *2-6, A-Z6, Aa-Ff6, Gg8 (with Gg8 a blank); ¶4, A-Z4, Aa2. Copper-engraved pictorial title engraved by William Hole, with portrait on verso, followed by an engraved dedication-leaf. Woodcut head & tailpieces & initials. (Folio) 27x18.3 cm (11¼x7"), modern calf.

First edition of Chapman's Homer, the most celebrated translation of the Elizabethan age. Chapman is thought to have completed his translation of the Iliad by 1611 and the Odysses by 1615; and these two separate works were often purchased together, and variously bound as a unit. ; At some point after 1615, the two translations were formally offered together with a general titlepage entitled "The Whole Works of Homer"; and in the canonical format for such a joint text, the title page of the Iliad was cancelled and replaced by an engraved general title leaf and dedication leaf, and the titlepage of the Odyssey was also typically cancelled. Some copies, such as the present, additionally contain a copy of Chapman's translation of the Batrachomyomachia ("The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," a comic parody of the Iliad, commonly attributed to Homer). In the present copy, the Odyssey has been bound before the Iliad (a not uncommon variation), and a facsimile title page for the Odyssey has been provided by the binder (though no Odyssey title page is called for in the collation of the text). Keats immortalized the present work in his famous poem "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" ("Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold ...").

Occasional minor soiling or aging within the text; title page with eradicated ownership mark at top margin, with small paper reinforcement to verso; a handsome and well-preserved copy.