DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0590
JAMES'S EDITION OF /ESOP'S FABLES.
THE FABLES OF .ESOP.
A NEW VERSION, CHIEFLY FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK.
Purified and rendered available for Schools and Families.
BY EEV. THOMAS JAMES, M.A.,
Vicar of Sibbertoft and Theddingworth, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
With 100 Original Woodcuts by John Tenniel.
Crown 8vo. 16s.
ADDRESS JO INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH.
'"PHIS Edition of Jisop has been undertaken with a view to remedy the
deficiencies of the versions at present in use in schools. It is only necessary
to glance at the existing translations to perceive that the vapid and often vulgar
style falls as far short of the requirements of the present day, in literature,
as the woodcuts are behind the modern productions of illustrative Art.
The author of the present translation has gone to the original Greek and
other sources, keeping as closely as possible to those authorities, hut seeking
to condense rather than expand them. He has taken considerable liberty with
those prosy appendages called morals or applications; thus departing from the
practice of the English Fabulists, who have generally diluted the spirit of the
original, converting into a sermon what was meant to be summed up in a
pithy proverb, and very often missing the point altogether. He has endea-
voured to restore to them their original terseness, incorporating them frequently
with the fables.
It is hoped that the book, stamped with the wisdom, of more than twenty
centuries, and at length freed from the platitudes and immoralities of the last
two, will now exhibit, in the most popular form, truths founded on the broad
base of human nature, and present, as it stands, an amusing Handbook for
all Ranks and Ages, and a Classbook for all seminaries* from the Royal
Foundations to the Ragged Schools.
" The present Edition ia remarkable for the clearness and conciseness with which each tale is narrated ;
and the reader will not he slow to acknowledge his gratitude to Mr. James for having relieved the hook from
those tedious and unprofitable appendages called * morals,' which used to obscure and disfigure the ancient
editions of the work. A fable, if it be good, will inculcate its moral clearly; and it may safely be asserted
that in all cases where it is necessary to extract the moral from the tale, and expand it into tedious prose,
the fable itself must be intrinsically had or defective, and had better he cast aside altogether. It should be
observed that there are, altogether, upwards of one hundred clever (and some exceedingly graceful) designs
by Mr. Tenniel; and these alone are worth more than the whole price setupon the book." Examiner.
[For Specimens of the Illustrations, see next page.}
THE FABLES OF .ESOP.
A NEW VERSION, CHIEFLY FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK.
Purified and rendered available for Schools and Families.
BY EEV. THOMAS JAMES, M.A.,
Vicar of Sibbertoft and Theddingworth, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
With 100 Original Woodcuts by John Tenniel.
Crown 8vo. 16s.
ADDRESS JO INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH.
'"PHIS Edition of Jisop has been undertaken with a view to remedy the
deficiencies of the versions at present in use in schools. It is only necessary
to glance at the existing translations to perceive that the vapid and often vulgar
style falls as far short of the requirements of the present day, in literature,
as the woodcuts are behind the modern productions of illustrative Art.
The author of the present translation has gone to the original Greek and
other sources, keeping as closely as possible to those authorities, hut seeking
to condense rather than expand them. He has taken considerable liberty with
those prosy appendages called morals or applications; thus departing from the
practice of the English Fabulists, who have generally diluted the spirit of the
original, converting into a sermon what was meant to be summed up in a
pithy proverb, and very often missing the point altogether. He has endea-
voured to restore to them their original terseness, incorporating them frequently
with the fables.
It is hoped that the book, stamped with the wisdom, of more than twenty
centuries, and at length freed from the platitudes and immoralities of the last
two, will now exhibit, in the most popular form, truths founded on the broad
base of human nature, and present, as it stands, an amusing Handbook for
all Ranks and Ages, and a Classbook for all seminaries* from the Royal
Foundations to the Ragged Schools.
" The present Edition ia remarkable for the clearness and conciseness with which each tale is narrated ;
and the reader will not he slow to acknowledge his gratitude to Mr. James for having relieved the hook from
those tedious and unprofitable appendages called * morals,' which used to obscure and disfigure the ancient
editions of the work. A fable, if it be good, will inculcate its moral clearly; and it may safely be asserted
that in all cases where it is necessary to extract the moral from the tale, and expand it into tedious prose,
the fable itself must be intrinsically had or defective, and had better he cast aside altogether. It should be
observed that there are, altogether, upwards of one hundred clever (and some exceedingly graceful) designs
by Mr. Tenniel; and these alone are worth more than the whole price setupon the book." Examiner.
[For Specimens of the Illustrations, see next page.}