1660-69 LARGE FOLIO EDITIONS OF OGILBY’S MAGNIFICENTLY ILLUSTRATED ILIAD AND ODYSSEY, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF HOMER EVER PRINTED, WITH 77 FINE FOLIO COPPER-ENGRAVED PLATES

HOMER. Homer His Iliads Translated, Adorn’d with Sculpture, and Illustrated with Annotations. BOUND WITH: Homer His Odysses Translated… London: Thomas Roycroft; James Flesher, 1660, 1669. Two volumes bound in one. Tall, thick folio (11 by 16 inches), early full dark brown mottled calf sympathetically rebacked in calf gilt, raised bands, red morocco spine label, marbled edges.

1660 first edition and 1669 second edition of Ogilby’s magnificently illustrated translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. The Iliad with engraved portrait of Ogilby and frontispiece engraving, both by Lombart, and 49 full-page copper-engraved plates (including a portrait of Homer); the Odyssey with portrait of Ogilby by Faithorne, frontispiece by White and 24 copper-engraved plates, one for each book of the epic, some engraved by Hollar.

Ogilby was a successful teacher when he began his translations of Virgil, Aesop, and Homer. “Ogilby printed many splendid books, mostly in folio; several were illustrated, or, as he expressed it, ‘adorned with sculpture,’ by Hollar, Lombart, Faithorne and other eminent engravers” (DNB). His Iliad and Odyssey have long been considered the greatest illustrated editions of Homer’s work ever printed. In fact, “Pope frequently spoke of the exquisite pleasure which the perusal of Ogilby’s Homer… gave him when a boy at school” (Allibone 1450); though Pope clearly felt he could improve upon Ogilby’s translation, he was not above borrowing from his predecessor’s rendition at times. Title pages printed in red and black, text embellished with numerous decorative headpieces and initials. Iliad bound without portrait of Charles II, as often. Odyssey first published in 1665. Wing H2548, H2555. Engraved armorial bookplate.

Small hole to frontispiece portrait of Ogilby in Iliad, with marginal paper restoration; allegorical frontispiece trimmed a little closely. Text generally quite clean, one leaf with archival repair not affecting text. Plates fine, with clear impressions. Expert restoration to contemporary mottled calf boards. A very good copy of these most desirable illustrated editions.