£175
8vo, pp. viii, 100, 110. Bound without section-title to second work. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spines divided by raised bands with gilt rules, black morocco label, 8 leaves of binder’s blanks at front and rear. Paper a little mottled and spotted. Joints slightly rubbed, top corner of rear board bashed. From the library at Spetchley Park, without mark of ownership.
A scarce schoolbook - in unusually good condition for such an item - for teaching Latin translation according to the system developed by James Hamilton (1769-1829), probably of Dublin, after a peripatetic life had led him to Philadelphia via Paris and Hamburg. His first use of the system was in 1817 and within the decade he had taught pupils and other teachers in a number of colleges in the USA and dozens of places across UK, publishing similar editions of titles including the Gospels in Greek and Latin and Robinson Crusoe in German. This volume contains two Ciceronian essays which were also issued separately - the Cato Major here retains its separate title-page with the same imprint and date, while the Laelius does not - and is located by Library Hub in four locations, the BL, Manchester, KCL, and Edinburgh.
