Republic of Plato.

PLATO. [DAVIES, John Llewelyn and David James Vaughan].

Item Number: 130148

London : Arthur L. Humphreys, 1898.

First edition of this important English translation of Plato’s masterpiece. Octavo, 2 volumes, bound in three quarters vellum, gilt titles to the spine, top edge gilt, with the half-title page to each volume and printed on the finest thick Humphreys paper. Translated from the Greek by John Llewelyn Davies and David James Vaughan. Humphreys produced a series of the most important works in the history of philosophical thought from throughout the world and from all time periods. In near fine condition. An exceptional presentation.

"That Plato should be the first of all the ancient philosophers to be translated and broadcast by the printing press was inevitable. Plato’s central conception of a universe of ideas, Perfect Types, of which material objects are imperfect forms, and his ethical code based on action according to human nature, developed by education, which represents the authority of the State, fitted in as well with the philosophical, religious and political thought of western Europe in the 15th century, striving to free itself from the shackles of scholasticism, as it did with those of the Byzantine Greeks, by whom Plato was repopularized in the western world The dialogues are pervaded by two dominant impulses: a love of truth and a passion for human improvement" (PMM 27). This translation by the Rev. Henry Spens is "very faithful containing not only a general epitome of the Republic of Plato, but an accurate delineation of the characters, manners, and philosophy of the ancient Greeks" (Lowndes, 1878).