The Odyssey of Homer
New York, NY: P. F. Collier & Son, 1909. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Hardcover. [4], 347, [5] pages. Footnotes. Decorative cover. Some cover wear. Includes Introductory Note, Footnotes, and Illustrations. The "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" stand at the head of the literature of Greece and of the epic poetry of the world; and their influence in the country of their origin and throughout the European peoples has been commensurate with their artistic greatness. Historically, they give the earliest picture of Aryan civilization, describing a period of culture of which we should otherwise know almost nothing. Artistically, in spite of their early date, they are the product of a mature art, expressing with supreme nobility and grace, permanent and varied yet simple types of human nature, in a language unsurpassed for its combination of directness, simplicity, and beauty. Samuel Henry Butcher DCL LLD FRSE FBA (16 April 1850 – 29 December 1910) was an Anglo-Irish classical scholar and politician. He was one of the two Members of Parliament for Cambridge University, between 1906 and his death, representing the Unionist Party. He was President of the British Academy, 1909–1910. His many publications included, in collaboration with Andrew Lang, a prose translation of Homer's Odyssey. Andrew Lang FBA (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St. Andrews are named after him. His other works include Homer and the Study of Greek, Homer and the Epic, and Homer and his Age. Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. He transformed the college into the preeminent American university. Eliot served until 1909, the longest term as president in the university's history. The Harvard Universal Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot and first published in 1909. Eliot had stated in speeches that the elements of a liberal education could be obtained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. The publisher P. F. Collier and Son saw an opportunity and challenged Eliot to make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works, and the Harvard Classics was the result. Eliot worked for one year with William A. Neilson, a professor of English; Eliot determined the works to be included and Neilson selected the specific editions and wrote introductory notes. Each volume had 400–450 pages, and the included texts are "so far as possible, entire works or complete segments of the world's written legacies." The collection was widely advertised by Collier and Son, in Collier's and elsewhere, with great success. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Odyssey of Homer, Odysseus, Greek Mythology, Clytemnestra, Agememnon, Calypso, Hermes, Poseidon, Circe, Scylla, Charybdis, Telemachus, Penelope, Laertes
[Book #80451]
Price: $45.00