12mo. These two editions conflated and bound in 2 vol. red straight grain morocco, gilt line borders on the sides, gilt ornamental
backs, marbled end papers, g.e.; some leaves badly cut into by the binder. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I twice in vol.
I and at sig. T twice in vol. II; marginal paragraph numbers inserted in ink by him. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
In a letter on Epicureanism to William Short, dated from Monticello October 31, 1819, Jefferson wrote: “
. . . of Socrates we have nothing genuine but in the Memorabilia of Xenophon. for Plato makes him one of his Collocutors merely
to cover his own whimsies under the mantel of his name; a liberty of which we are told Socrates himself complained.
”
Xenophon, b. circa 430 B.C., Greek historian and philosopher. The
Memorabilia was written to defend Socrates from the charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.
Sarah Fielding, 1710-1768, English writer, was the sister of Henry Fielding. Her translation of Xenophon was first issued in 1762.
[1307]
J. 71
Aristotelis Ethica.
Gr.
Lat. Magiri.
8
vo.
2. vols.
1815 Catalogue, page 55. no. 4, Aristotelis Ethica, Gr. Lat. Magiri, 12mo.
ARISTOTELES.
Dn. Ioannis Magiri, Philosophiæ professoris in Academia Marpvrgensi inclyti corona virtutum moralium, Universam Aristotelis svmmi philosophi ethicen exacte enucleans . . . Adiecto vbiq; Aristotelis contextu
Græco
-Latino. Nunc primum emenda, legenda, pendenda.
Proponitvr in collegio musarum
Paltheniano Francofurt, anno
m. d. cxiv
. [
Francofurt, 1614.]
PA3893 .E9 M3 1614
8vo. 408 leaves including the last blank, collating in eights, woodcut device on the title.
This edition not in Brunet, Graesse, Ebert, Dibdin, Schwab.
Old calf, marbled endpapers, some leaves cut into and some wormholes, sig. Ggg
2 damaged, some leaves foxed. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. Manuscript notes in the margins and on the fly-leaf at the end, and underlined passages all in ink, are not by Jefferson. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
[1308]
J. 72
Platonis opera. Serránii.
Gr.
Lat.
fol.
3. vols.
1815 Catalogue, page 58. no. 136, Platonis opera, Gr. Lat. Serrani, 3 v fol.
PLATO.
Πλατωνος απαντα τα σωζομενα. Platonis opera quæ extant omnia. Ex nova Ioannis Serrani interpretatione, perpetuis eiusd(
~e) notis illustrata . . . Eivsdem annotationes in quosdam suæ illius interpretationis locos. Henr. Stephani de quorumdam locorum interpretatione iudicium, & multorum contextus
Græci emendatio.
Excvdebat
Henr. Stephanvs [
Geneva],
1578.
PA4279 .A2 1578
3 vol. folio. Title, with
Estienne device in the first volume, half titles in the second and third;
Greek and
Latin texts in parallel columns, woodcut initials and ornaments. This copy
has the dedications, to Queen Elizabeth, to James VI of Scotland,
and to the
Republic of Berne.
Brunet III, page 761.
Dibdin, page 294.
Renouard, page 445.
Maittaire, pages 101 and 407.
Volumes I and II rebound in half red morocco; vol. III in old calf, gilt ornaments on the back. Initialled by Jefferson at
appropriate signatures in all volumes. The name
J. Carsotuscmit written on the title-pages.
In a letter to William Short, dated from Monticello August 4, 1820, Jefferson wrote: “
. . . so again, the superlative wisdom of Socrates is testified by all antiquity, and placed on ground not to be questioned.
when therefore Plato puts into his mouth such paralogisms, such quibbles on words & sophisms as a schoolboy would be ashamed
of, we conclude they were the whimsies of Plato’s own foggy brain, and acquit Socrates of puerilities so unlike his
”
