BARCLAY, HIS ARGENIS: OR THE LOVES OF POLIARCHUS AND ARGENIS.

BARCLAY, John.  BARCLAY, HIS ARGENIS: OR THE LOVES OF POLIARCHUS AND ARGENIS.                                                          

London: Printed by G.P. for Henry Seile, 1625. Folio. Coontemporary calf. (vi), 404 pages. [STC, 1392]. First English edition.

Barclay's Argenis was written in Rome, completed eleven days before the death of John Barclay (1582-1621) of fever in Rome and first published in Paris in 1621 shortly after his death.  Along with the Satyricon, the romance became one of the first best sellers in England and was popular in all of Europe as well.  In colonial Virginia, both William Byrd and Robert Carter owned copies.  James VI first commissioned Ben Jonson to translate the tale, but he never did.  The first English translation was made by Kingesmill Long and Thomas May.  This is a very nice copy in contemporary calf.  It lacks the initial blank and the title leaf slightly toned.  There is a discrete ex-library duplicate stamp from the University College Library, London, on the verso of the title page and the final leaf.  With the bookplate of Arthur Gregory of Stivichall.  [See R. Bearman's The Gregorys of Stivichall.]

 

SOLD