£200
8vo, pp. xxxi, [i], 246, 257-448, 49, 3 (ads). Gap in pagination as called for. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine divided by raised bands between gilt rules, red morocco label. Three small wormholes in blank margin, a little soiling in places. Extremities worn and rubbed, head of spine and front joint a bit chipped. Armorial bookplate of Spains Hall in Essex (the Ruggles-Brise family), covering an earlier bookplate on front pastedown.
The much-expanded second edition of this 'scholarly, lucid' (ODNB) argument in favour of retaining the accent marks used in writing Greek. Prompted in part by an Oxford University Press decision to omit them, Foster showed 'them to be tonal, not quantitative, and conformable to ancient accounts of the tones' (ODNB). Foster was also responding to Henry Gally's earlier argument against accents, and this edition adds a response to Gally's response to Foster's first edition of the previous year. The author, John Foster (d. 1774) was master at Eton, but a better scholar than schoolmaster, and student numbers halved during his tenure.
