Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

In the translation by william adlington. edited, with an introduction by f. j. harvey darton. with illustrations and decorations by philip hagreen.

Item Description

8vo. 9 x 6.25 inches. 359 + [1] pp. colophon. Half title in red and title page in red and black. Bound in blue cloth, gilt, with gilt borders to front board and spine, enclosing gilt blocks, including ass roundel on front board. Top edge gilt, others rough cut, many pages uncut. Spine sunned and fly leaves browned, but otherwise a very good clean copy. 1929 gift inscription on front pastedown. Illustrated by 6 plates, including frontispiece and decorated by title page, endpiece and chapter heading vignettes, all by Philip Hagreen. The Latin prose writer and Platonist philosopher, Apuleius Madaurensis (c. AD 124-170), a Roman citizen of Numidia, North Africa, was also involved in mystery cults. In a trial defence, he successfully defended himself against a charge of using magic to gain the affections of a widow. His work, the Metamorphoses is better known today as the bawdy and irreverent title, The Golden Ass, in which the hero, Lucius Apuleius is accidentally turned into an ass. and is the first surviving novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. This edition published by the Navarre Society employs the prose of William Adlington, whose translation of 1566 marked the first appearance of the work in English and was used as a source by Shakespeare (e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream). It was edited by Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton (1878-1936) writer on Dorset and Kent, who was best known for his history of children's literature (1932). The plates and decorations are by Philip Hagreen (1890-1988), wood engraver and book illustrator and an associate of Eric Gill at Ditchling, East Sussex.