Pausanias, Ou Voyage Historique De La Grece, Traduit En François, Avec des Remarques. Par M. l'Abbé Gedoyn, Chanoine de la Sainte Chapelle, & Abbé de Beaugenci, de l'Académie Françoise, & de l'Académie Royale des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. Tome Premier. (Second.)
Voyage Historique De La Grèce
Hellados periegesis
Periegesis tes Hellados
Graeciae descriptio
Descriptio Graeciae
Imprint
A Paris,: Chez Didot, Quay des Augustins, près le Pont Saint Michel, à la Bible d'Or., M. DCC. XXXI. Avec Approbation Et Privilege Du Roy.
Physical Description
2 vols.; 258 mm. (Quarto.)
General Note
Vol. I: [ii], xxiv, 478, [iv], viii p., frontis., 4 fold. pl. (incl. 2 maps). - Vol. II: [ii], 523, [1], vi p., 3 fold. pl. (incl. 1 map). Some copies have viii pages at the beginning rather than the end of Volume I; and vi pages at the beginning rather than the end of Volume II.
Contents
Vol. I: [Frontis., t.p., dedic.] - Préface - [2 fold. maps] - [Text: books 1-5] - Fautes à corriger ... - Approbation; Privilege ... - Observations De M. Le Chevalier Follart Sur la Bataille de Messenie, Liv. IV ... Mont Ithome, Liv IV .... - Vol. II: [T.p., fold. map] - [Text: books 6-10] - Table Des Matieres Contenues Dans les deux Volumes [index] - Fautes à corriger ... - Observations De M. Le Chevalier Follart Sur la Bataille de Mantinée, Liv. VIII.
Responsibility Note
The translation was published simultaneously by Didot, Quillau and Nyon. According to Graesse, it was based on the Latin version of Romolo Quirino Amaseo (1489-1552). The three notes on battles are by 'Follart', i.e. Jean-Charles, chevalier de Folard.
The frontispiece is signed as designed by Humblot and engraved by G. Scotin; the four plates are signed as engraved by J. Rigaud; the three maps are captioned as prepared by Philippe Buache from notes by G. Delisle.
References
C. Grell, Le dix-huitième siècle et l'antiquité en France 1680-1789 (1995).
Summary Note
We owe to Pausanias's 'Tour of Greece' many detailed descriptions of ancient Greek monuments and works of art, particularly those of the 5th and 4th centuries B. C., which he most admired. Among sculptors and painters whose work he describes are Phidias, Alcamenes, Nicias and Polygnotus; and among his favourite sites are Athens (the Propylæa of the Acropolis), Olympia (the temples of Zeus and Hera), Epidauros (the theatre), Delphi, Bassæ, Amyclæ and Tegea. His accounts are a fascinating source for art historians, and indispensible to archæologists.
This French translation is supported by three maps, a plate showing the Olympic stadium and three plates showing battles (Messenia, Ithome and Mantinea); the last three are furnished with notes by Folard.
Thomas Taylor's English translation, The Description of Greece, appeared in 1794 (ESTC T95854).
Provenance
Acquired by 1802 (see Catalogue of the Library in the Royal Academy, London, 1802, p. 22).
Binding Note
18th-century calf; red morocco spine-labels, lettered, 'Pausanias De Gedoyn'.
Subject
Antiquities, Greek - Architecture, Greek - Art, Greek - Public buildings - Temples - Greece - History
Art history - Greek literature - Greece - Description and travel - 2nd century
Translations from Greek - Translations into French - Maps - France - 18th century