PLATO

The Cratylus, Phaedo, Parmenides and Timaeys of Plato. Translated from the Greek by Thomas Taylor. With Notes on the Cratylus, and an Explanatory Introduction to Each Dialogue.

First edition in English. 8vo. xxiii, [1], 554, [2] pp. Late nineteenth century half calf with black cloth covered boards, spine with five single raised bands outlined in gilt, second panel lettered in gilt on morocco label, the rest decorated in blind, red speckled edges (extremities slightly worn, small loss at foot of rear joint). London, Benjamin and John White, 1793.

£1,250.00

The first edition of this English translation of four of Plato’s middle and late dialogues, by Thomas Taylor (1758-1835), known as ‘The Platonist’. It was through Taylor’s translations that the Romantic poets had access to Platonism, demonstrably so in the cases of Blake and Coleridge.

‘Taylor’s approach to this philosophy was determined by his initial encounter with it, through reading Aristotle and Plato together with the Neoplatonic commentaries, which encouraged an understanding of the essential unity of Aristotle and Plato, provided by their Neoplatonic interpretation’ (ODNB).

Stock No.
251990