Add MS 4807-4809

Translation of Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey" by Alexander Pope; circa 1708-1726. Partially incomplete autograph draft of the works published by Bernard Lintot (The Iliad, 6 vols., 1715-1720; The Odyssey, 5 vols., 1725-1726). Three volumes. Quarto. Paper. Other material includes pages from a fair copy of the translation, drafts of some of the 'Observations' on certain books, and various notes. For a detailed description of the translation and notes contained in these volumes see H. J. Zimmermann, Alexander Popes Noten zu Homer (Studien zum Fortwirken der Antike, ii) Heidelberg, 1966. Pope made use of the backs of numerous old letters, chiefly addressed to him, for the draft of his translation. Almost all of these are printed in one of the following three works: Additions to the Works of Alexander Pope, 2 vols., 1776; The Works of Alexander Pope ... Supplement, ed. J. Warton, 1825; The Works of Alexander Pope, ed. W. Elwin and W. J. Courthope, 10 vols., 1871-1889. Cf. also The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. G. Sherburn, 5 vols. 1956. The names of the writers of the letters are to be found in the Index of the present Catalogue. Pope bequeathed the MSS. of his translation to Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, after whose death in 1751 they passed to David Mallet (d. 1765). Mallet's widow Lucy presented them to the British Museum, 6 Dec. 1766.

Alexander Pope: Translation of the 'Iliad', and 'Odyssey': circ. 1708-1726.: Partly autogr.

Alexander Pope: Correspondence: circ. 1706-1725.

Homer: The 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' translated by A. Pope: circ. 1708-1726.