Showing posts with label Loeb Classics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loeb Classics. Show all posts

Wednesday

Acquisitions (46): The Loeb Classics



Powell's City of Books: Loeb Classical Library (Portland, Oregon)

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Emory Library: Digital Loeb Classical Library (2014)


The Loeb Classical Library
(1912- )
[59 of 530-odd volumes]:


I've been thinking about all the various sets and libraries of books I collect - in a more or less desultory way - and the number of lists and catalogues of them I've compiled on this website and others. They include:

  1. La Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (1931- ) [41]
  2. The Folio Society (1947- ) [100]
  3. The Landmark Ancient Histories (1996- ) [5]
  4. The Library of America (1979- ) [94]
  5. The Loeb Classics (1912- ) [59]
  6. Longman Annotated English Poets (1965- ) [12]
  7. The Nonesuch Library (1927-77) [16]
  8. Norton Annotated Editions (2000- ) [22]
  9. Oxford Myths and Legends (1954- ) [19]
  10. Penguin Modern Poets (1962-83) [28]
  11. Penguin Modern European Poets (1958-84) [40]
  12. Penguin Poets in Translation (1996-2005) [12]
  13. The Reynard Library (1950-71) [7]
  14. Russian Foreign Languages Publishing House (1946-64) [40]

That's beside all the single authors I collect, mind you - all the way from Kathy Acker to Yevgeny Zamyatin. I felt that it was about time that I added the Loeb Classical Library to their number: a baker's dozen of lists, if I've counted correctly.

I did put up some remarks a couple of years ago on the Loeb editions of Greek Historians I'd recently bought at a local bookshop, but I thought I should probably add a list of all the other categories of writers I've collected in this form.



As usual, Wikipedia is a good source of basic information about the series:

The Loeb Classical Library was conceived and initially funded by the Jewish-German-American banker and philanthropist James Loeb (1867–1933). The first volumes were edited by Thomas Ethelbert Page, W. H. D. Rouse, and Edward Capps, and published by William Heinemann, Ltd. (London) in 1912, already in their distinctive green (for Greek text) and red (for Latin) hardcover bindings. Since then scores of new titles have been added, and the earliest translations have been revised several times. In recent years, this has included the removal of bowdlerization from earlier editions, which often reversed the gender of the subjects of romantic interest to disguise homosexual references or (in the case of early editions of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe) translated sexually explicit passages from the Ancient Greek into Latin, rather than English.

Since 1934, the library has been co-published with Harvard University ...

The Loebs have only a minimal critical apparatus, when compared to other publications of the text. They are intended for the amateur reader of Greek or Latin, and are so nearly ubiquitous as to be instantly recognizable.
All I can say is, despite that lack of notes, for amateurs such as myself they're really invaluable.



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Greek Lyric IV

Greek Literature
[7 authors / 44 books]


    Authors & Works:

    • Apollonius of Rhodes (c.3rd century-c.246 BC)
    • Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BCE)
    • Hesiod (c.8th century BC)
    • Homer (c.850 BC)
    • Josephus (37–c.100 AD)
    • Philostratus (c.170-247 AD)
    • Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BCE)
    • Anthologies & Secondary Literature


    Apollonius Rhodius [Apollonius of Rhodes] (c.3rd century-c.246 BC)

  1. Apollonius Rhodius. The Argonautica. Trans. R. C. Seaton. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann / New York: The Macmillan Company, 1912.


    2. Diodorus of Sicily (fl. 1st century BC)

  2. Diodorus Siculus. The Library of History. 12 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1976, 1977, 1989.
    • Books I-II: 1-34, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1936)
    • Books II: 35-end, III, IV: 1-58, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1935)
    • Books IV: 59-VIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1939)
    • Books IX-XII: 40, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1946)
    • Books XII: 41-XIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1950)
    • Books XIV-XV:19, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1954)
    • Books XV: 20-XVI: 65, Trans. Charles L. Sherman (1952)
    • Books XVI: 66-95, XVII, Trans. C. Bradford Welles (1963)
    • Books XVIII-XIX: 1-65, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1947)
    • Books XIX: 66-110, XX, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1954)
    • Books XXI-XXXII, Trans. Francis R. Walton (1967)
    • Books XXXIII-XL / Index, Trans. Francis R. Walton & Russel M. Geer (1967)


    3. Hesiod (c.8th century BC)

  3. Hesiod. I: Theogony / Works and Days / Testimonia. Ed. & trans. Glenn W. Most. 2006. Loeb Classical Library, 57. 2 vols. London & Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2010.

  4. Hesiod. II: The Shield / Catalogue of Women / Other Fragments. Ed. & trans. Glenn W. Most. Loeb Classical Library, 503. 2 vols. London & Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2007.


    5. Homer (c.850 BC)

  5. Homer. Iliad. Trans. A. T. Murray. 1924. Rev. William F. Wyatt. 1999. Loeb Classical Library. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2003 & 2001.

  6. Homer. Odyssey. Trans. A. T. Murray. 1919. Rev. George E. Dimock. 1995. Loeb Classical Library. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1998.

  7. West, Martin L., ed. & trans. Homeric Hymns / Homeric Apocrypha / Lives of Homer. Loeb Classical Library LCL 496. London & Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2003.


    8. Yosef Ben Matityahu / Titus Flavius Josephus (37–c.100 AD)

  8. Josephus. Works. 9 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961, 1966.
    • The Life / Against Apion, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1926)
    • The Jewish War, Books I-III, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1927)
    • The Jewish War, Books IV-VII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1928)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books I-IV, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1930)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books V-VIII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray & Ralph Marcus (1934)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books IX-XI, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1937)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books XII-XIV, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1943)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books XV-XVII, Trans. Ralph Marcus & Allen Wikgren (1963)
    • Jewish Antiquities, Books XVIII-XX / General Index, Trans. Louis H. Feldman (1965)


    9. Lucius Flavius Philostratus [Philostratus the Athenian] (c.170-247 AD)

  9. Philostratus. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, The Epistles of Apollonius, and the Treatise of Eusebius. Trans. F. C. Conybeare. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann / New York: The Macmillan Company, 1912.


    10. Polybius (c.200 – c.118 BCE)

  10. Polybius. The Histories. Trans. W. R. Paton. Introduction by Col. H. J. Edwards. 6 vols. 1922, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967, 1968, 1972.


    11. Anthologies & Secondary Literature

  11. Campbell, David A., trans. Greek Lyric. 5 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann Ltd. / Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press, 1982-93.
    • Sappho and Alcaeus LCL 142 (1982, 1990)
    • Anacreon, Anacreontea, Choral Lyric from Olympus to Alcman LCL 143 (1988)
    • Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others LCL 476 (1991)
    • Bacchylides, Corinna, and Others LCL 461 (1992)
    • The New School of Poetry and Anonymous Songs and Hymns LCL 144 (1993)

  12. Edmonds, J. M. trans. The Greek Bucolic Poets. 1912. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann / New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1919.

  13. West, Martin L., ed. & trans. Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC. Loeb Classical Library LCL 497. London & Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2003.



Apuleius: The Golden Ass

Latin Literature
[9 authors / 17 books]


    Authors & Works:

    • Apuleius (c.125–c.180 AD)
    • Horace (65–8 BC)
    • Martial (38/41-102/4 AD)
    • Ovid (43 BC–17/18 AD)
    • Petronius (c.27–66 AD)
    • Seneca (c.4 BC–65 AD)
    • Statius (c.45-c.96 AD)
    • Suetonius (c.69/75–c.130 AD)
    • Valerius Flaccus ( -c.90 AD)


    Lucius Apuleius [Apuleius] (c.125–c.180 AD)

  1. Apuleius, Lucius. The Golden Ass, Being the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius. Trans. W. Adlington. Rev. S. Gaselee. Loeb Classical Library. London & New York: William Heinemann & The Macmillan Company, 1915.


    2. Quintus Horatius Flaccus [Horace] (65–8 BC)

  2. Horace. The Odes and Epodes. Trans. C. E. Bennett. 1914. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1925.


    3. Marcus Valerius Martialis [Martial] (38/41-102/4 AD)

  3. Martial. Epigrams I. Trans. Walter C. A. Ker. 1919. Loeb Classics. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947.

  4. Martial. Epigrams II. Trans. Walter C. A. Ker. 1920. Loeb Classics. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950.


    5. Publius Ovidius Naso [Ovid] (43 BC–17/18 AD)

  5. Ovid. I: Heroides and Amores. Trans. Grant Showerman. 1914. Loeb Classics, 41. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971.

  6. Ovid. II: The Art of Love and Other Poems. Trans. J. H. Mozley. 1929. Rev. G. P. Goold. Loeb Classics, 232. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.

  7. Ovid. III: Metamorphoses 1: Books I-VIII. Trans. Frank Justus Miller. 1916. Rev. G. P. Goold. Loeb Classics, 42. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.

  8. Ovid. IV: Metamorphoses 2: Books IX-XV. Trans. Frank Justus Miller. 1916. Rev. G. P. Goold. Loeb Classics, 43. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005.

  9. Ovid. V: Fasti. Trans. J. G. Frazer. 1931. Loeb Classics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press / London: William Heinemann, 1959.

  10. Ovid. VI: Tristia . Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.


    11. Gaius Petronius Arbiter (c.27–66 AD)

  11. Petronius. Satyricon. Trans. Michael Heseltine. Seneca. Apococyntosis. Trans. W. H. D. Rouse. 1913. Rev. E. H. Warmington. 1969. Loeb Classics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005.


    12. Lucius Annaeus Seneca [Seneca the Younger] (c.4 BC–65 AD)

  12. Seneca. Tragedies I. Trans. Frank Justus Miller. 1917. Loeb Classics. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938.


    13. Publius Papinius Statius (c.45-c.96 AD)

  13. Statius. I: Silvae / Thebaid I-IV. Trans. J. H. Mozley. 1928. Loeb Classical Library. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.

  14. Statius. II: Thebaid V-XII / Achilleid. Trans. J. H. Mozley. 1928. Loeb Classical Library. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961.


    15. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.69/75–c.130 AD)

  15. Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars I: Julius / Augustus / Tiberius / Caligula. Vol. 1 of 2. Trans. J. C. Rolfe. 1913. Rev. ed. 1951. Rev. Donna W. Hurley. Introduction by K. R. Bradley. Loeb Classical Library. London & Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.

  16. Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars II: Claudius; Nero; Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; Vespasian. Titus, Domitian. Lives of Illustrious Men: Grammarians and Rhetoricians; Poets. Vol. 2 of 2. Trans. J. C. Rolfe. 1914. Rev. ed. 1951. Rev. Donna W. Hurley & G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library. London & Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.


    17. Gaius Valerius Flaccus ( -c.90 AD)

  17. Valerius Flaccus. Argonautica. Trans. J. H. Mozley. 1934. Loeb Classical Library, 286. London & Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936.


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Monday

Acquisitions (16): Loeb Classics



[Acquired: Tuesday, 3 April, 2018]:

Bronwyn and I visited the Hard-to-Find Bookshop in Onehunga on Tuesday, and I made a bit of a beast of myself among the Loeb Classics. In fact, the bookshop staff applauded as I left with my cardboard box of tattered treasures. ONe of them remarked: "Looks like we'll get paid this week."

The bookshop may well be moving soon: possibly to St. Benedict's Street off Upper Symonds Street. Let's hope it doesn't, but it's one more reason for not feeling too guilty about my excesses. The fact is, you don't often see complete sets of Loeb classics, since they're just so useful to anyone who's at all classically inclined.

These, then, are the books I bought:



Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus of Sicily (fl. 1st century BC):
Diodorus Siculus. The Library of History. 12 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1976, 1977, 1989.
  • Books I-II: 1-34, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1936)
  • Books II: 35-end, III, IV: 1-58, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1935)
  • Books IV: 59-VIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1939)
  • Books IX-XII: 40, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1946)
  • Books XII: 41-XIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1950)
  • Books XIV-XV:19, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1954)
  • Books XV: 20-XVI: 65, Trans. Charles L. Sherman (1952)
  • Books XVI: 66-95, XVII, Trans. C. Bradford Welles (1963)
  • Books XVIII-XIX: 1-65, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1947)
  • Books XIX: 66-110, XX, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1954)
  • Books XXI-XXXII, Trans. Francis R. Walton (1967)
  • Books XXXIII-XL / Index, Trans. Francis R. Walton & Russel M. Geer (1967)



Josephus

Yosef Ben Matityahu / Titus Flavius Josephus (37–c.100 AD):
Josephus. Works. 9 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961, 1966.
  • The Life / Against Apion, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1926)
  • The Jewish War, Books I-III, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1927)
  • The Jewish War, Books IV-VII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1928)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books I-IV, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1930)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books V-VIII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray & Ralph Marcus (1934)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books IX-XI, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1937)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books XII-XIV, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1943)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books XV-XVII, Trans. Ralph Marcus & Allen Wikgren (1963)
  • Jewish Antiquities, Books XVIII-XX / General Index, Trans. Louis H. Feldman (1965)



Polybius

Polybius (c.200 – c.118 BCE):
Polybius. The Histories. Trans. W. R. Paton. Introduction by Col. H. J. Edwards. 6 vols. 1922, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967, 1968, 1972.



Why? Why did I want to own these books? In the case of Diodorus, it's because his Library of History was an early attempt at a universal chronicle - extracted from many now-lost sources - of world events from the Egyptians and Mesopotamians up to his own times.

It's not that his book is particularly accurate, or even that brilliantly written in itself, but rather the traditions it hints at: the lost knowledge of classical writers about the cultures that had preceded them.

Only parts of it survive, but even those parts are surprisingly voluminous.



Josephus was not a particularly likeable or admirable character. He was a turncoat in the Jewish wars which led to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and an active collaborator thereafter with the Romans.

His work gives amazing insights into the Middle East around the time of Christ, but from a completely non-Christian viewpoint. Can you trust him implicitly? No. He always has an axe to grind. But then, what historian doesn't? At least with Josephus his biases and assumptions are all there on the surface. And his knowledge of the past and present of the Roman province of Palestine is profound.

True, I already own a copy of the more recent Penguin Classics translation of The Jewish War:



Josephus. The Jewish War. Trans. G. A. Williamson. 1959. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1960.

Not to mention Whiston's 1737 translation of Josephus's complete works:



Josephus. The Works. Trans. William Whiston. London: Ward, Lock & Co., n.d.

I still feel the Loeb one has an indispensable place beside them, though.



And what of Polybius? It's not as if he's really up there with Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch and Xenophon - the Greek historians everyone's heard of any who we all know we should read at some point.

That doesn't make him uninteresting, though. His account of the wars between Rome and Carthage, as well as those between Rome and Greece, are designed to give a picture of how the Romans achieved domination over this entire region.

Whatever subsequent commentators may have said, there was nothing inevitable about this process. There was a lot of luck involved, as well as good management (and a fair share of ruthlessness). Polybius was there, and he gives a fascinating account not just of what he himself witnessed but of what he could find out in the research libraries of classical antiquity.

Like Josephus, he was to some extent an apologist for Roman expansionism. He first went there as a hostage, but left as a kind of colonial official. His work must be read with a grain of salt, but his respect for objective reporting makes him one of the few classical historians who can be compared to Thucydides.

Do any of these volumes overlap? Well, of course. Some poems are included in more than one of them (somewhat unpredictably at times). Probably one could get away with just the two above - but it would be a shame to miss out on this wonderful piece of book design (for that matter, the true purist will want a copy of Hughes's Selected Translations also: some of his best work was done in this genre).

Am I crazy? No doubt. But they do look very handsome there on my classical studies bookshelf. And it's not as if there are going to be any more eye-witness descriptions of the destruction of Carthage anytime soon ...


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