Poésies de Sapho. Suivies de différentes poésies dans le même genre.
Londres: 1810.
Price: $250.00
About the item
Engraved frontispiece portrait of Sappho. 171pp. 1 vols. 12mo. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gilt spine with black leather label, a.e.g. Very pretty.
Item #25231
Represents an interesting stage of the Sappho legend in French literature. The 14pp "Vie de Sapho" is almost pure fantasy and repeats all of the old legends (her leap off the Leucadian rock, her love of Phaon, etc.) as pure fact. The translations - except for Boileau's version of the famous fragment also translated by Catullus ("Ille mi par esse deo videtur) - are also pure inventions, the translator anonymous, and the single most famous poem, and only complete fragment, the hymn to Aphrodite, doesn't even appear.
