Longinus: On the Sublime.

Longinus Dionysius ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΛΟΓΓΙΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΥΨΟΥΣ ΥΠΟΜΝΗΜΑ. Dionysii Longini De Sublimitate commentarius, quem nova versione donavit, notis illustravit, & partim manuscriptorum ope, partim conjectura emendavit (additis etiam omnibus ejusdem auctoris fragmentis) Zacharias Pearce, A.M., Regiae Majestati a Sacris Domesticis etc. Editio secunda, notis & emendationibus auctior. Londinii Ex Officiani Jacobi Tonson & Johannis Watts. 1724
Quarto:[9], xv, 187, 28, [15] p.Engraved frontispiece, decorative head and tail pieces. Text in Greek and Latin on opposite pages; prefatory matter and notes primarily in Latin.
Dedication to Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, Viscount of Ewelme, and Baron of Macclesfield.
Beautifully clear printing, a new recension and a new translation, by Zachary Pearce.
The literary treatise 'On the sublime' ), ΠΕΡΙ ΥΨΟΥΣ ΥΠΟΜΝΗΜΑ.of which 2/3 survives, and is ascribed by the medieval tradition to Dionysius Longinus, was written some time in the 1st century A.D.
'As a stimulus to critical thought and to the understanding of ancient literature he (the author) has permanent value'. (OCD, 2nd ed. p. 619). 'Longinus was ably edited by Zachary Pearce, (1690-1774), Fellow of Trinity, and ultimately bishop of Rochester'. (Sandys II,412). Engraved frontispiece: an orator and his audience in a library. Woodcut initials and headpieces. An engraved headpiece with the coat of arms Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, Viscount of Ewelme, and Baron of Macclesfield, at the beginning of the dedicatio. Full calf, rubbed; spine gilt; joints starting. Corner repaired to back board. end papers toned.
Title page with old repair [signature excised?]; worm track repaired to front free end paper; worm track from rear free end paper reducing to worm hole in blank margin, ending at page 85.

On the Sublime is a Roman-era Greek work of literary criticism dated to the 1st century AD. Its author is unknown, but is conventionally referred to as Longinus or Pseudo-Longinus. It is regarded as a classic work on aesthetics and the effects of good writing. The treatise highlights examples of good and bad writing from the previous millennium, focusing particularly on what may lead to the sublime.

The author's identity has been debated for centuries. The oldest surviving manuscript, from the 10th century, indicates the original author was named "Dionysius or Longinus", which was later misread as "Dionysius Longinus". Subsequent interpretations have attributed the work to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century) or Cassius Longinus (c. 213–273 AD), though neither is now widely accepted.

The author is unknown. In the 10th-century reference manuscript (Parisinus Graecus 2036), the heading reports "Dionysius or Longinus", an ascription by the medieval copyist that was misread as "by Dionysius Longinus." When the manuscript was being prepared for printed publication, the work was initially attributed to Cassius Longinus (c. 213–273 AD). Since the correct translation includes the possibility of an author named "Dionysius", some have attributed the work to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a writer of the 1st century AD.[1] There remains the possibility that the work belongs to neither Cassius Longinus nor Dionysius of Halicarnassus, but, rather, some unknown author writing under the Roman Empire, likely in the 1st century. The error does imply that when the codex was written, the trails of the real author were already lost. Neither author can be accepted as the actual writer of the treatise. Dionysius maintained ideas which are absolutely opposite to those written in the treatise; with Longinus, there are problems with chronology.
Among further names proposed, are Hermagoras (a rhetorician who lived in Rome during the 1st century AD), Aelius Theon (author of a work which had many ideas in common with those of On the Sublime), and Pompeius Geminus (who was in epistolary conversation with Dionysius).

Jacob Tonson,
sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the elder (1655–1736) was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher.
Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright on the plays of William Shakespeare by buying up the rights of the heirs of the publisher of the Fourth Folio after the Statute of Anne went into effect. He was also the founder of the famous Kit-Cat Club. His nephew, Jacob Tonson the younger (1682–1735) was his business partner. The business was continued by the younger Tonson's son Jacob Tonson (1714–1767).

In addition to the influence of the CUP, credit for the emergence of a distinctive Tonson house style also belongs to John Watts, who collaborated with the Tonson house for almost sixty years. (11) Typically remembered for employing the abstemious young Benjamin Franklin, then stranded in London, as a compositor in his printing house in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn-Fields rather than for his contributions to the English print trade, Watts stands as perhaps the leading English printer of the first half of the eighteenth century. More than anyone else--arguably, even more than Jacob Tonson--credit for designing the distinctive and refined look of Tonson's books during this period rests with him. Tonson worked with at least twelve separate printers before hiring Watts, which helps to explain the unremarkable look of the majority of his pre-1700 publications. (12) Some confusion prevents us from knowing the particulars of their early relationship, but by October 1705, Tonson was listed as a printer in Bow Street, Covent Garden, and, from 1706 onward, the rate books of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, list Tonson and Watts as the occupants of the Bow Street house. Watts apprenticed with Robert Everingham, who most likely brought him to the bookseller's attention, and was made free on 9 June 1707. (13) During this period, the Tonson house began to experiment distinctively with elements such as format, layout, typographical styling, and ornamentation. Certainly by 1707, Watts had begun serving as Tonson's printer, supervising the publications printed by the Bow Street press, and creating a distinctive and refined style for the bookseller's texts.

A second series of classical editions edited by Michael Maittaire demonstrates Watts's clear role in shaping the Tonson house style. Maittaire, who received a royal privilege for a series of classical authors in Latin and Greek, approached Tonson, by then perhaps the most respected (and powerful) London bookseller, to publish the editions. (14) As with the earlier Cambridge series, Maittaire's Classics contained a set of standardized features. The royal privilege for the series stipulated two important aspects of it: format and critical apparatus. The editions were to appear "in Twelves," or duodecimo, and to provide the reader with "compleat Indexes." Located at the back of each volume, the extensive indices facilitate reference by listing alphabetically the important names, places, and subjects mentioned in the text, and provide the reader with the page numbers on which the items may be found. Each edition also includes a life of its author, and a list of variant readings, often accompanied by a bibliography of the editions Maittaire used in preparing the text. For the project, which was far more ambitious in scope than the earlier Cambridge classics, Tonson made Watts his partner, a point made clear by the editions' imprint: "ex officina Jacobi Tonson & Johannis Watts." (15)

In printing the series, Watts employed a level of quality and standardization reminiscent of the Cambridge classics. He set the title pages with a simple, yet elegant, layout. Proper names, such as the author's and the publishers' (Tonson and Watts), the book's title, the city in which it was published ("Londini"), and the date of publication appear in red. Watts used black ink for the remaining words on the page. The alternating use of inks visually accents the page, but it also reveals a heightened level of cost and craftsmanship. Watts also set the classics' text with clarity in mind. Lines are regularly numbered, and the spatial relationship of text to page provided for margins spacious enough to accommodate readers' annotations. Moreover, visual elements are used throughout Maittaire's Classics to adorn and unite the editions. While the editions' frontispieces present images unique to the respective volumes, shared incidental illustrations, such as decorative headpieces, tailpieces, and ornate capitals, not only mark divisions within the texts, but also unite the editions visually. (16)

Hamm, Robert B., Jr. Rowe's Shakespear (1709) and the Tonson house style.
Brunet 3:1152; Sandys II,412; OCD, 2nd ed. p. 619. 300 by 240mm (11¾ by 9½ inches).   ref: 3082  €1000