Ueber W. Shakspeare
Zurich: bey Drell, Gessner, Füssli und Comp. 1787. First edition. Minor rubbing. A fine copy. Very scarce. Contemporary half calf, spine gilt. Octavo. [4], 683, [1] pp. + an engraved frontispiece portrait. Item #7610
The first full-fledged German study of Shakespeare. Eschenburg was a prominent critic and literary historian who is particularly remembered for his efforts to familiarize his countrymen with English literature. He published translations of John Brown, Daniel Webb, Charles Burney, Joseph Priestley, and Richard Hurd, but his most notable achievement was the first full translation, in prose, of Shakespeare's plays, published in thirteen volumes from 1775 to 1782. The present very substantial work has long chapters on Shakespeare's life, his contemporaries, the theaters and actors of the period, etc., as well as analysis of individual plays, and the sonnets and other poems.
CBEL I, 1631.
Price: $2,000.00