21. Bessenyei György (transl.): Lukánus elsö könyve

Posonyban, 1776. Landerer Mihály. 47p.
An almost forgotten minor work of the leading figure of the so-called “bodyguard writers”. Berzsenyi, due to his poor knowledge of Latin, translated the Roman poet Lucanus’ "Pharsalia" to Hungarian not from the original but from Marmontel's French translation of, who was very popular at the time – in prose. From a literary-historical point of view, this lot is made significant by the letter addressed to Ábrahám Barcsay. Barcsay was also a member of the Viennese bodyguards and belonged to the author's circle of friends. In the letter, Bessenyei talks about the importance of using the Hungarian language, mentions his Pope translation, and then asks for Barcsay's opinion about this writing. As far as we know, a complete copy of this scarce work has not been auctioned in the past half-century.
Contemporary half leather.
Szüry: 0
Prov.: From the library of Ferenc János Pál.
 
Starting price: 150,000 Ft