A Classical Dictionary; Containing A Copious Account Of All The Proper names Mentioned In Ancient Authors, With The Value Of Coins, Weights, And Measures, Used Among The Greeks And Romans, And A Chronological Table. By J. Lempriere, D.D.
London:: Printed For T. Cadell And W. Davies In The Strand., 1804.
Physical Description
xxiv, [952] p. ; 270 mm. (Quarto.)
Contents
[T.p., dedic.] - Preface - A Chronological table, From The Creation Of The World To The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West, And In The East [i.e. 4004 B.C. to 1453 A.D.] - [Text]; [colophon] - [Advertisement].
Responsibility Note
The printers' names are given on the title-page verso and in the colophon: 'Printed by Strahan and Preston, New-Street Square, London.'
Summary Note
Lempriere had published the first edition of his dictionary as a twenty-three-year-old undergraduate in 1788, under the title Bibliotheca classica (Reading: T. Cadell). Its brief but readable entries made it immediately popular - the poet Keats is known to owned at least two copies - and it has been reprinted many times since.
Provenance
5 March 1810: Purchase agreed on recommendation of John Flaxman (see RA Council Minutes IV, 199-200). Acquired by 1821 (see A Catalogue of the Library in the Royal Academy, London, 1821, p. 27).
Binding Note
19th-century half green morocco, green cloth-covered boards; rebacked in 20th century retaining earlier brown morocco spine-label lettered 'Lempriere's Classical Dictionary'.
Subject
Greeks - Romans - Celebrities - Greece - Rome - Mediterranean Region - Civilization - History
Dictionaries - Reference books - Biography - 19th century