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DAVIES, John, Sir (1569-1626). Nosce teipsum. This Oracle expounded in two Elegies. 1. Of Humane knowledge. 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the immortalitie thereof. London: Henry Ballard for John Standish, 1608.
4° (176 x 129mm). (Without final blank, minor repair to title and margins of a few leaves not affecting text.) Green morocco gilt by Bedford, gilt turn-ins and edges. Provenance: Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
Third edition of one of the first important philosophical poems printed in English, and the most notable work of this genre before Dryden (Pforzheimer). John Davies, poet, lawyer, and afterwards Solicitor-General for Ireland, was known in his youth for his flamboyant and tempestuous personality. He returned to Oxford in 1598, where he wrote Nosce teipsum, after having been disbarred from Middle Temple for breaking his cudgel over the head of Richard Martin, the dedicatee of Orchestra, his first book. Nosce teipsum was much commended by his contemporaries. Lord Montjoy, later Earl of Devonshire, approved of it so highly that he advised Davies to publish it with a dedicatory poem to the Queen, which Davies, seeking rehabilitation, promptly did (Camb. Hist. of Eng. Lit. IV, IX, 5). Standish published the first and second editions in 1599 and 1602. ESTC S109382; cf. Pforzheimer 266; STC 6357.
4° (176 x 129mm). (Without final blank, minor repair to title and margins of a few leaves not affecting text.) Green morocco gilt by Bedford, gilt turn-ins and edges. Provenance: Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
Third edition of one of the first important philosophical poems printed in English, and the most notable work of this genre before Dryden (Pforzheimer). John Davies, poet, lawyer, and afterwards Solicitor-General for Ireland, was known in his youth for his flamboyant and tempestuous personality. He returned to Oxford in 1598, where he wrote Nosce teipsum, after having been disbarred from Middle Temple for breaking his cudgel over the head of Richard Martin, the dedicatee of Orchestra, his first book. Nosce teipsum was much commended by his contemporaries. Lord Montjoy, later Earl of Devonshire, approved of it so highly that he advised Davies to publish it with a dedicatory poem to the Queen, which Davies, seeking rehabilitation, promptly did (Camb. Hist. of Eng. Lit. IV, IX, 5). Standish published the first and second editions in 1599 and 1602. ESTC S109382; cf. Pforzheimer 266; STC 6357.
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