THE LATIN PORTRAIT: AN ANTHOLOGY by (NONESUCH PRESS). HAMILTON, G. ROSTREVOR - 1929

[London]: Nonesuch Press, 1929. No. 7 of 1,550 copies. 160 x 105mm. (6 1/4 x 4 1/4"). xv, [i], 367, [1] pp. Original buckram over bevelled boards, gilt titling on spine, top edge gilt on the rough, other edges untrimmed. Three copper-engraved vignettes by Stephen Gooden, two of female nudes and one of frolicking cupids. Dreyfus 59. Spine uniformly darkened, a couple of small marginal stains in the index and one on first page, a hint of browning to untrimmed edges, but a very good copy in excellent condition overall. This work contains a collection of classical poetry by Romans as various as Lucretius, Ovid, and the emperor Hadrian, here turned into English by 69 different translators. Our editor, George Rostrevor Hamilton (1888-1967), was a civil servant by profession, knighted in 1951. He had received a classical education and enjoyed translating and editing Greek and Latin texts as an avocation. Hamilton chose each translation for this anthology based on its ability to bring the Latin language to life, containing, in his words, "the vigor and freshness of creation." The translators here include famed cartographer John Ogilby, poet laureate Nicholas Rowe, and Patrick Branwell Brontë (brother of the novelists), among others.