[Pope, Alexander, translatior.]

folio, 6 volumes, first folio edition, one of 250 copies of the large- and thick-paper issue (357 x 226mm), portrait frontispiece of Homer after Vertue, 5 plates on 2 leaves, engraved map of Greece in volume 1, folding frontispiece map of Troy in volume 2, "Achilles Shield" plate in volume 5, subscriber's list in volume 1, contemporary speckled calf gilt, spines gilt in compartments with red and green lettering-pieces, all edges speckled in red and green,  map of Troy slightly foxed, short marginal tear in volume 1 to pp.41-42, some light foxing in volume 5, heads of some spines slightly cracked, some slight wear to edges of binding 

Rev. William Goodall (eighteenth century), with his bookplate; acquired for The Garden Ltd. from Bernard Quaritch in 1984, book-label; the sale of The Collection of the Garden Ltd., Sotheby's New York, 9/10 November 1989, lot 139

Ashley 6:5-7 (ordinary paper); Griffith 40n, 41, etc.; Rothschild 1573 (ordinary paper)

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

the most splendid issue of pope's "iliad".

Pope's Iliad, an enormous project which consumed the poet's energies for six years, was issued in several formats under a novel agreement between Pope and his publisher Bernard Lintot. Linto provided Pope with 650 copies quarto on "Holland" Royal paper embellished with engraved head- and tail-pieces and initials, for Pope himself to sell by subscription; and Lintot printed and sold for his own account 1750 small-paper folios and, according to Dr. Johnson, 250 large-paper folios. In addition there are thick-paper quarto copies printed on "Dutch" Royal paper in an unknown number of copies.

The twenty-four books of the poem "were for the most part drafted on the backs of letters (now preserved in BL, Add. MSS 4807–4809). Pope earned £1275 from Lintot for his translation. Subscriptions raised this sum (by a modern estimate) to about £5000... In 1976 David Foxon estimated that the value of Pope's Homer [including The Odyssey] to the poet, translated into the financial values of that year, was about £200,000. This established Pope's fortune and set his fame on a firmer foundation. As he wrote in 1737, 'But (thanks to Homer) since I live and thrive,/Indebted to no Prince or Peer alive' (Epistle 2, ii.68–9, Poems, 4.169)." (Oxford DNB)