The Iliad of Homer

London: J. Walker, 1807. Later printing. Hardcover. Fair-Good. 24mo. [6], 559, [1]pp. Original gilt-stamped red morocco, with gold lettering and tooling on spine. Raised bands. Dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece and title page. A scarce, early edition of Pope's translation of Homer. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, he is the third-most frequently quoted writer in "The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations," after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope had been fascinated by Homer since childhood. In 1713, he announced his plans to publish a translation of the Iliad. The work would be available by subscription, with one volume appearing every year over the course of six years. Pope secured a revolutionary deal with the publisher Bernard Lintot, which brought him two hundred guineas (£210) a volume, equivalent to about £27,300 ($44,315) in 2014, a vast sum at the time. His translation of the Iliad appeared between 1715 and 1720. It was acclaimed by Samuel Johnson as "a performance which no age or nation could hope to equal" (although the classical scholar Richard Bentley wrote: "It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer."). Binding rubbed on spine and along edges. Front board detached, but present. Previous owner's name on title. Minor and sporadic underlining in ink throughout the very first pages of the Preface (not affecting text). Sporadic light foxing throughout. Binding in overall poor, interior in good to good+ condition.