Vergil, [Works in Greek], St Petersburg, 1786-1792, 2 volumes, contemporary calf

Publius Vergilius Maro

A set of his works translated into Greek verse by Eugenios Boulgaris and printed in St Petersburg, comprising:

Των Γεωργικων... τα Δ βιβλια... Georgicorum libri IV [translated by Eugenios Boulgaris]. St Petersburg: Academy of Sciences, 1786, parallel text in Latin and Greek, engraved and woodcut head- and tailpieces

Aeneidis libri XII... Της Αινειαδος... τα ΙΒ βιβλια [translated by Eugenios Boulgaris]. St Petersburg: Academy of Sciences, 1791-1792, 2 volumes in one, some deckle edges

together 2 volumes, folio (384 x 235mm.; 398 x 242mm.), contemporary calf, red edges, bindings rebacked and repaired

A translation of Vergil's works into Greek verse, by Eugenios Boulgaris (1716-1806), a native of Corfu who spent time in Leipzig and Göttingen before being invited to St Petersburg by Catherine the Great, the dedicatee of this work, who appointed him as archbishop of Cherson in 1775. This is one of several translations into modern Greek made by Boulgaris.

For another Greek text printed in Russia at this time, see lot 171.

PROVENANCE

presentation inscription in Greek on flyleaf, dated Ionia, 26 February 1869, to the churchman Andreas Georgiadis