Camille's+Page

=John Dryden's **Fables Ancient and Modern**=
 * 1713**

The last of Dryden's works, Fables Ancient and Modern was published in 1700 two months before he died (the second edition was released in 1713). John Dryden was a celebrated poet during his lifetime and continues to be compared to other English Greats like Shakespeare and Wordsworth. A large portion of his work is politically motivated or patronized, at points during his life he held the status of Poet Laureate as well as Historiographer Royal.



Jacob Tonson and his publishing house are responsible for publishing the majority of Dryden's works and are closely associated with Dryden and his plays and poems. Tonson worked closely with Dryden to print his writing; a 1684 collection of poems by Dryden is in later editions occasionally titled //Tonson's Miscellany//.

 Contents: Dedication to his Grace the Duke of Ormond, by John Dryden Preface Poem to her Grace the Dutchess of Ormond  Palamon and Arcite, or The Knight’s Tale, from Chaucer in 3 Books Poem to my Honour’d Kinsman, John Driden of Chesterton in the County of Huntingdon  Meleager and Atalanta out of the Eighth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis Sigimonda and Guicardo from Boccace Baucis and Philemon out of the Eighth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses  Pygmalion and the Statue, out of the Tenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis  Cinyras and Myrrha, out of the Tenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis The First Book of Homer’s Ilias  The Cock and the Fox, or the Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer  Theodore and Honoria from Boccace  Ceyx and Alcyone  The Flower and the Leaf, or, The Lady in the Arbour <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Alexander’s Feast, or, The Poer of Musick, An Ode in Honour of St Cecilia’s Day <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The Twelth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, wholly translated <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, from the Thirteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The Wife of Bath, her Tale <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Of the Pythagorean Philosophy, from the Fifteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The Character of a Good Parson, Imitated from Chaucer and Enlarg’d <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The TABLE (index).

Physical Bibliography: Dimensions- 19x12x4 cm

Paper: The paper is laid, with vertical chain lines indicating a quarto fold. No evidence of a watermark. Damage and repairs- page 419 addition of bottom corner, pg 551/ "the Table" bottom corner reinforced with thin paper/ tissue paper some staining The endpaper that was tipped in with the new cover is wove. The edges have been trimmed at least once.

The book has been rebound with each individual page being separated and then adhered to paper extensions that were bound together. The original cover was replaced with a red faux leather one and additional end papers were added. (waxed/treated cloth)

Illustrations- The frontispiece is an engraving, a very typical illustration technique in the 16th century. There are also small, decorative engravings that probably were not made specifically for this book like the frontispiece was. They are less detailed and feature generally classical motifs like foliage, cupids and birds. There is even repetition of the same image several times in different locations. There are twenty two different excerpts, stories, and poems, all begin with a rectangular, heading illustration and incipit letter and are followed by illustrations of varying sizes.

Evidence of Provenance- James M. Bright John A. Worsop Goucher College Library Clio? Marginalia- Someone has written numbers that count the lines of poetry beginning with line twenty in the address to the Dutchess. This numbering system is written in a similar hand and graphite that John M. Bright's name was signed in. Also note that the pages have been trimmed, likely when it was rebound.

This copy also has printed marginalia in the form of braces whose meaning I could not discern

This book also has examples of catch words and page signatures.



[|Copy with Original Binding for Auction]

References:

Hopkins, David. John Dryden. Tavistock, GBR: Northcote House Publishers, 2004. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 19 November 2014.

<span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: 'Open Sans','Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Oxford DNB Resources." //<span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: 'Open Sans','Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Oxford Dictionary of National Biography //<span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: 'Open Sans','Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.