Infamia Emendationum in Menandri Reliquias Nuper Editarum Trajecti Ad Rhenum BOUND with Le Gazettier Menteur, Ou Mr Le Clerc Convaincu De Mensonge Et De Calomnie

Leipzig & Utrecht: Joh. Arnold. Langerack AND G. Vande Water. Good with no dust jacket. 1710. Vellum. [6] 168, [4] With addenda & corrigenda; [16], 247, [i] . Verso of last leaf is Advertissement. 12 mo. In full contemporary vellum with faint handwritten brown ink title on the spine. Vellum is normally aged but quite clean and handsome. Interior paper clean and unmarked. Paper on last leaf of last volume has a publisher’s flaw where the bottom edge of the paper is thin and/or missing, not affecting text. Two small bookplates on inside front cover with a few light pencil notes. A sturdy and handsome volume. The first volume is in Latin, the second in French. The first is written by Richard Bentley under the pseudonym Phileleutherus Lipsiensis. Bentley (1662 – 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenism. In 1892, A. E. Housman called Bentley "the greatest scholar that England or perhaps that Europe ever bred". Other sources say that the book was actually written by Gronovius: "Rare pamphlet written as reaction to the vehement controversy between Bentley and Le Clerc, caused by the latter's Menander edition. Gronovius is in the Infamia emendationum almost equally severe upon Le Clerc as upon Bentley, and his tract is considered to be one of the bitterest pieces of criticism extant. " Pieter Burman (1668 – 1741) , posthumously distinguished from his nephew as "the Elder," was a Dutch classical scholar who studied under Graevius and Gronovius. His numerous editorial and critical works spread his fame as a scholar throughout Europe, and engaged him in many of the stormy disputes which were then so common among men of letters at the time. Jean Le Clerc (1657 - 1736) , against whom Burman wrote this work, was a Genevan theologian and biblical scholar. At first glance the two books bound together seem to have little in common except their date. However, they represent a fascinating bunfight in Classical scholarship that was occurring at the beginning of the 1700s. Bentley, the author of the first, and Burman, of the second, joined forces to attack Jean Le Clerc, who had, in turn, attacked Burman. For Burman, grammar, rhetoric and style were important but moral and historical questions were not. Le Clerc disagreed vehemently. To quote Floris Verhaart : “Burman's text-critical take on ancient literature led him to simply ignore moral considerations in favour of discussions of stylistic, rhetorical or grammatical aspects of the text. But the picture quickly becomes complicated by a sex scandal involving Burman and a young woman he supposedly impregnated; the (im) morality of the text becomes a vehicle to discuss the (im) morality of the editor despite Burman's supposed detachment from moral questions. ” Bentley weighed in on the argument on the side of his friend Burman. Both books are uncommon. Only a few copies in Wordcat. OCLC 1190990039 (Bentley as the author) , 50160955 (Gronovius as author) and 457207566 (Burman). Whether Bentley or Gronovius is the author turns on whether the title case is dative or not. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall .