1745 Rare Book Set - The Odyssey of Homer by Alexander Pope, Illustrated
Author: Homer. Translated from the Greek by Alexander Pope. With The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, attributed to Homer and translated by Thomas Parnell.
Title: The Odyssey of Homer. [With] Homer’s Battle of the Frogs and Mice.
Publisher: London, Printed for Henry Lintot, 1745.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 6.5 × 4 inches.
Pages: Complete in five volumes:
Vol. I: xxii, 225 pp. + publisher’s advertisements
Vol. II: 256 pp.
Vol. III: 304 pp.
Vol. IV: 260 pp.
Vol. V: 267 pp. + index and The Battle of the Frogs and Mice (22 pp.).
Binding: Very good contemporary full calf bindings, uniformly executed, with raised bands, gilt-ruled spines, and gilt volume numbers. Covers with gilt single-rule borders. Calf darkened and attractively patinated with age (hinges tight, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown, moderate wear to spines and extremities, including rubbing and small losses at some headcaps, consistent with mid-18th-century use - as shown, joints generally sound, bindings firm - as shown) under a protective, removable mylar cover. Presenting as a cohesive and visually impressive set.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing, toning or staining - as shown). Overall, a very solid and well-preserved example of a mid-18th-century multi-volume classical work.
Each volume bears an engraved armorial bookplate on the first endpaper, identifying Samuel Bosworth as an early owner. The finely engraved ex libris, featuring a heraldic lion within an elaborate rococo cartouche, is typical of mid-18th-century English bookplates and adds a clear mark of contemporary provenance.
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout with engraved plates preceding each of the twenty-four books of the Odyssey, all present.
Estimate: (USD 1,200–1,500).
The books: This handsome 1745 five-volume duodecimo set presents Alexander Pope’s celebrated English translation of The Odyssey, one of the most influential and enduring translations of Homer’s epic ever produced. First published between 1725 and 1726, Pope’s version shaped English-speaking readers’ understanding of Homer for generations, admired for its heroic couplets, rhetorical force, and poetic polish.
The present 1745 Lintot edition represents a later but authoritative 18th-century printing, issued in a compact and elegant format suitable for private libraries. Particularly desirable is the inclusion of The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, a mock-epic traditionally attributed to Homer, here translated by Thomas Parnell, which adds both literary breadth and charm to the set.
The engraved plates—one preceding each book—enhance the narrative rhythm of the epic and reflect the high standards of English book illustration during the period. Preserved in contemporary calf, this set exemplifies the balance between classical scholarship, readability, and refined bookmaking that defined serious literary publishing in Georgian England.
The authors: Homer is the foundational poet of Western literature, traditionally dated to the 8th century BCE. His epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, established narrative structures, archetypes, and moral frameworks that continue to influence literature, philosophy, and art. The Odyssey, in particular, remains a timeless meditation on endurance, identity, cunning, and homecoming.
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) was one of the greatest English poets of the Augustan age. His translation of The Odyssey is celebrated not as a literal rendering, but as a monumental poetic achievement in its own right, reflecting the ideals of balance, harmony, and eloquence that defined 18th-century English literature. Pope’s Homer was, for many readers, the definitive Homer.
Thomas Parnell (1679–1718), an Anglo-Irish poet and member of Pope’s literary circle, contributed The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, a witty and learned counterpoint to the heroic gravity of the Odyssey, showcasing the playful side of classical reception in the Enlightenment.