1815

THORKELIN, Grímur Jónsson (1752-1829). [Beowulf.] De Danorum Rebus Gestis, Secul. III & IV, Poëma Danicum Dialecto Anglosaxonica. Copenhagen: Th.E. Rangel, 1815.

A lovely, uncut copy of the first edition of Beowulf in Old English, with side-by-side Latin translation. Grímur Thorkelin (1752-1829), an Icelandic scholar in the Danish civil service, was the first to undertake serious study of the Beowulf manuscript, Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, in the British Library and publish an edition from it. The manuscript, dating from either the very end of the 10th century or the early decades of the 11th, is the unique medieval copy of the longest surviving epic poem in Old English. In 1731 it was nearly lost when a fire broke out in Ashburnham House where the Cotton manuscripts were stored. Thorkelin was awarded a royal grant in 1786 to study the manuscript as a possible source for early Danish history and in 1787 he and a copyist made two transcripts of the manuscript as the basis for this edition. In some cases, the Thorkelin transcripts represent the only record of what has been lost from the text, since the manuscript has decayed considerably since his visit.

Quarto (235 x 185mm). Uncut (a little minor browning to preliminaries and addenda, tiny marginal repair to title page). Modern burgundy morocco gilt.