Jefferson’s copy was bought for him in London by Mrs. Paradise at auction for
twelve shillings. On May 15, 1789, Mrs. Paradise wrote to Jefferson (in Paris) from London: “. . . I have sent the Names of the two Books that M
r. Robson has bought for you, is Xenophontis Ephesien Anthias et Abrocoma Gr. which you marked for 15
s/ he has bought it for you for 12
s/ . . .”
Xenophon,
known as
Xenophon of Ephesus, possibly because of the title of his novel, lived in the third century A.D. According to Suidas the
Ephesiaca was comprised of ten books, of which only five are extant.
Antonio Cocchi, 1695-1758, Italian scientist and scholar, was professor of medicine at Pisa, later of philosophy and anatomy at Florence,
and was chosen by Francis I, the Roman emperor, as his antiquary. He edited this work, and translated it into Latin.
Anton Maria Salvini, 1653-1729, Italian scholar and abbot, a professor of Greek, first transcribed the manuscript of this romance, preserved
in the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino at Florence, and in 1723 translated it into Italian. For other translations by him,
see the Index.
Jean Baptiste Jourdan, 1711-1793, French scholar and dramatist, was the translator of the work into French.
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41
Xenophontis Ephesii Amores Anthiae et Abrocomae.
Gr.
Lat. Cocchii
4
to.
Long.
1726.
1815 Catalogue, page 139, no. 65, as above.
XENOPHON
of Ephesus.
Ξενοφ(
~ω)ντος ’Εφεσιο(^υ) Τ(
~ω)ν κατα Ανθίαν κα(`ι) Αβροκόμην ’Εφεσιακ(
~ω)ν λόγοι Πέντε. Xenophontis Ephesii Ephesiacorum Libri V. De Amoribus Anthiae et Abrocromae.
[
sic
--
Ed.
] Nunc primum prodeunt e vetusto codice Bibliothecae Monachorum Cassinensium Florentiae, cum
Latina interpretatione Antonii Cocchii Florentini.
Londini: typis
Gulielmi Bowyer,
1726.
First Edition. 4to.
Greek and
Latin texts, engraved frontispiece. A copy of this edition was not available for collation.
Graesse VI, 493.
Ebert 24163.
Lowndes V, 3014.
According to Nichols,
Literary Anecdotes (I, 347) this edition was prepared by Cocchi from the transcript made by Salvini of the original manuscript, which was lent
to him by Henry Davenant.
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42
Gil Blas.
4. v.
16
s.
1815 Catalogue, page 138, no. 12, as above.
1839 Catalogue, page 595, no. J. 10, Sage, Alain René le: Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, 4 v. 16s; Londres, 1769.
LE SAGE,
Alain René.
Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane. Londres,
1769.
The date as given in the 1839 and later catalogues is probably a misprint, as no copy of an edition printed in London has
been traced. Editions were published in London by J. Nourse in 1749 and 1760 (or 1761), in 4 vol. 12mo, and it is probably
one of these that was in Jefferson’s library and sold to Congress.
See Cordier,
Essai Bibliographique sur les Oeuvres d’Alain-René Lesage, no. 237 and 242. Cordier had not seen these editions, and quotes from the British Museum Catalogue where the copy of the
later edition is dated 1760. The copy in the New York Public Library is dated 1761.
Alain René Le Sage, 1668-1747, French novelist and dramatist. The first two parts of Gil Blas de Santillane were originally published in 1715,
the third and fourth in 1724 and 1735, respectively.
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