Lexicon manuale græco-latinum et latino-græcum studio atque opera Josephi Hill, Johannis Entick, Gulielmi Bowyer, nec non Jacobi Smith, S.T.P., ada[u]ctum. Insuper quoque, ad calcem adjectae sunt sententiae Graeco-Latinae

New York: Collins and Hannay. Good. 1825. Hardcover. 531, [1], 122 pages; Full contemporary sheep, flat spine, front cover now detached. This 1825 edition of the Screvel Greek-Latin lexicon - as edited for anglophone students by Joseph Hill; John Entick; William Bowyer; Peter Steele - is the third American edition, first published in Philadelphia in 1808. It is not a rare book, but the provenance of this copy is fascinating. Mounted to the front paste-down endpaper is the printed booklabel of the "PLATTEVILLE ACADEMY / Library of Philozaetean Society." This printed label is pasted over an ink inscription, but the first line is clearly visible: "Library of Platteville ..." This refers to the Platteville Academy, in Grant County, Wisconsin -- the first institution of higher learning in the Wisconsin Territory, established in 1839, nine years before Wisconsin became a State. Platteville was founded by Major John H. Rountree, a veteran of the Black Hawk War, who came to this part of Southern Wisconsin in response to rumors of the commercially attractive potential of mining lead. (The main lead vein was said to have been exposed by the digging of a badger...) Rountree's town survived the lead boom; most of the miners went west to California in search of gold. Rountree also is responsible for the founding of the Platteville Academy, Chartered by the Territorial government in 1839, and again in 1841. This historic school eventually grew and merged into what is now the University of Wisconsin–Platteville. For early history of this extremely important proto-educational establishment of Wisconsin, see Ullsvik, Bjarne R. 'A history of the Platteville Academy, 1839-1866' -- available on the internet. Somewhat less than one quarter of the students (male and female) of the Academy were enrolled in the Classics curriculum. The Philozaetean Society's name is sufficiently singular that google returns only pages relating to the Platteville Academy, including the "Journal of Proceedings By Wisconsin Legislature Assembly" -- where an Act was recorded in 1856 to incorporate the Society in Platteville (under the slighlty simplified phonetic spelling "Philozetean." It is worth repeating that the rare booklabel of this small classical Society in a State founded just eight years previously, is mounted over an earlier pen inscription. A future owner might wish to lift the paper label to read the inscription, which very probably dates from the early 1840's. There is a signature in ink crossed out on the facing front blank with the date "1841." The blank leaves at the end of this volume have an interesting roster of pencil names. One entire page consists of girl's names -- the list has at its head "Laura Rountree / Platteville, Wis." Several of the names have place inscriptions below, presumably home towns. While several are in or near Platteville, there are three names from Geneva, New York, which seems surprizing. It would be interested to know whether this copy served as a sort of yearbook of classics students at the Academy, or a register of the Philozaetean Society... The front cover (and the still-conjoined front free endpaper) are now detached, but present. The rear cover and a portion of the spine are still covered by an old paper protective "jacket" of a sort often used to cover schoolbooks... (the flaps are glued only to the cover itself; it could be removed in seconds without damage to the volume). The booklabel of the Philozaetean Society has a space for a "Shelf" number, and space to enter a volume number below. The number has been supplied in pencil: "1001." I think it most likely that this was either the Society's first book, or its most important volume (or, perhaps, both). Greek lexicons were probably not numerous in the Wisconsin Territory. This one clearly has an interesting American story to tell. OCLC Number: 33810756 (9 locations, including University of Wisconsin - Madison , Special Collections Library Vault ). Shoemaker 22205. Printed in triple columns, except for prefatory pages, the exposition of Greek grammar, etc. A worn copy, foxed and toned throughout, as one might expect -- but with a most interesting history. .