William Tell; or Swisserland Delivered
by Chevalier de Florian [Jean Pierre Claris]
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Pasadena, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1809. First English language edition. Translated into English by William Hewetson. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, rebacked to style. Marbled end papers and edges of text block. Previous owner's name on the verso of the front end paper, otherwise clean internally. Bound without the half-title, but retaining the frontis illustration and five pages of ads at the back. Collating: xxxvi, 115, [5, ads]. One of two variant imprints with no clear priority (the other in the same year from Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper), OCLC reports 4 institutional copies overall, only one of those matching our imprint.
The first appearance in English of the story of the "Swiss legendary hero who symbolized the struggle for political and individual freedom...According to popular legend, William Tell was a peasant from Burglen who defied Austrian authority, was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head, was arrested for threatening the governor's life, saved that same governor's life en route to prison, and ultimately killed the governor in an ambush. These events supposedly helped to spur the people to rise up against Austrian rule" (Britannica). While the folklore surrounding Tell was a largely regional phenomenon in its early iterations, "in the early Romantic era of nationalist revolutions, the Tell legend attained worldwide renown through the stirring play Wilhelm Tell (1804)" -- and his influence spread into the English speaking regions with the help of the present translation (Britannica).
The first appearance in English of the story of the "Swiss legendary hero who symbolized the struggle for political and individual freedom...According to popular legend, William Tell was a peasant from Burglen who defied Austrian authority, was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head, was arrested for threatening the governor's life, saved that same governor's life en route to prison, and ultimately killed the governor in an ambush. These events supposedly helped to spur the people to rise up against Austrian rule" (Britannica). While the folklore surrounding Tell was a largely regional phenomenon in its early iterations, "in the early Romantic era of nationalist revolutions, the Tell legend attained worldwide renown through the stirring play Wilhelm Tell (1804)" -- and his influence spread into the English speaking regions with the help of the present translation (Britannica).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Whitmore Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 5213
- Title
- William Tell; or Swisserland Delivered
- Author
- Chevalier de Florian [Jean Pierre Claris]
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First English language edition
- Publisher
- Sherwood, Neely, and Jones
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1809
Terms of Sale
Whitmore Rare Books
15 day return guarantee, with full refund if an item arrives damaged or not matching the description.
About the Seller
Whitmore Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Pasadena, California
About Whitmore Rare Books
We operate a retail shop in "Old Town" Pasadena open normal business hours Tuesday through Saturday.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Marbled boards
- ...