Theocrite

1925 · rif. 152730 — London: The Casanova Society 1925. First edition of Robert Calverley Trevelyan’s graceful verse translation of Theocritus the third-century BC Greek poet whose bucolic Idylls founded the entire pastoral tradition in Western literature. Octavo original quarter vellum over blue-green boards the spine lettered in gilt. One of only 750 numbered copies this is number 55. In very good condition. A handsome elegantly printed production. Theocritus c. 300-260 BC a Greek poet born in Syracuse is celebrated as the creator of pastoral poetry his Idylls conjuring an idealized world of shepherds singing contests and the Sicilian countryside that would inspire Virgil’s Eclogues and centuries of pastoral verse to follow. Robert Calverley Trevelyan 1872-1951 was an English poet and classical translator a member of the distinguished Trevelyan family and an intimate of Bertrand Russell E. M. Forster and the Bloomsbury circle. His verse renderings of Theocritus and Lucretius were admired for their fidelity and their quiet music. The Casanova Society hardcover