Illustrations of Euripides, on the Ion and the Bacchae

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by Richard P. Jodrell

Jodrell's Illustrations of Euripides
George Wythe bookplate.jpg
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library
at the College of William & Mary.
  
Author Richard P. Jodrell
Editor
Translator
Published London: Printed by J. Nichols; Sold by J. Dodsley, R. Faulder, Leigh and Sotheby.
Date 1781
Edition 1st
Language English, Latin and Greek
Volumes 2 in 1 volume set
Pages
Desc. 8vo

Richard Paul Jodrell (17457 – 1831) was a classical scholar, translator, and dramatist. The son of Paul Jodrell, of St. Andrew's parish, Holborn,[1] he attended Eton College where he published his early verses in the Musae Etonenses, and graduated with much distinction.[2] Later, he matriculated from Hertford College, Oxford, and in 1771 was called to the bar.[3] However, Jodrell pursued a literary rather than a legal career.[4]

His early works include contributions to the supplementary notes to Robert Potter's edition of Aeschylus, and commentaries on three plays by Euripides.[5] Additionally, he wrote a series of plays titled A Widow and No Widow, Seeing is Believing, and The Persian Heroine that enjoyed mixed fortunes.[6] In 1787 he published anonymously a collection of farces and comedies that had been performed in provincial or private theaters.[7]

On the Ion and the Bacchae (1781) are two of Jodrell's three commentaries on the Greek playwright, in which he interprets the tragedy as an illustration of "conjugal love and sacrifice." In addition to the Ion and the Bacchae, Jodrell also published Illustrations of Euripides, on the Alcestis (1789).[8]

Jodrell was granted the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the College of William & Mary in 1786. The faculty minute book reveals his diploma was signed by the President of the College, the Reverend James Madison, and Professors George Wythe, Robert Andrews, and Charles Bellini.[9] Madison had been introduced to Jodrell by John Paradise (1743–1795) sometime prior, "which led to that of the diploma of a degree in your University of Williamsburgh."[10] The diploma quotes from Euripides' Alcestis, suggesting Jodrell has "sped on high through poetry and touching many stories."[11]

In 1790 Jodrell was elected to Parliament. He was unseated on a petition, but regained his seat in 1792 and held it until 1796. During the last ten years of his life he suffered from mental illness and died in Portland Place, London, on January 26, 1831.[12]

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "Joddrell's [sic] illustrations of Euripides. 8vo." This was one of the titles kept by Thomas Jefferson and may have been sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Unfortunately, Jefferson's copy does not survive to verify Wythe's prior ownership. George Wythe's Library[13] on LibraryThing lists Illustrations of Euripides on the Alcestis with the 1781 publishing information for the earlier title on the Ion and the Bacchae. The Brown Bibliography[14] identifies Illustrations of Euripides on the Alcestis as published in 1789. Millicent Sowerby's description of Jefferson's copy more closely matches Illustrations of Euripides, on the Ion and the Bacchae from 1781:

First Edition. 8vo. 2 parts in 1,321 leaves, engraved vignette portrait of Euripides by I. K. Sherwin on the title-page. Jefferson's manuscript and the Library of Congress catalogues call for one volume only. The work was issued in 2 volumes, with continuous signatures and pagination, the title and half-title repeated in the second volume. The division occurs at sig. Sq. Lowndes III, 1212. Jefferson's copy was bound for him in calf, gilt (cost $1.00) by John March on June 30, 1807, and it is to be assumed that he had the two parts bound in 1 volume, with the second title and half-title suppressed.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gordon Goodwin, "Jodrell, Richard Paul (1745-1831)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
  2. ↑ Goodwin.
  3. ↑ Goodwin.
  4. ↑ Goodwin.
  5. ↑ Goodwin.
  6. ↑ Goodwin.
  7. ↑ Goodwin.
  8. ↑ Richard Paul Jodrell, Illustrations of Euripides, on the Alcestis (London: Printed by J. Nichols; sold by B. White and Son, Leigh and Sotheby, R. Faulder, 1789), 3.
  9. ↑ Faculty Minute Book, 1729–1784, February 6, 1786. Faculty Assembly Records, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries (image 336). For this discovery, see: Bill Cole, "Finding Mr. Jodrell: Lost for 235 Years," W&M Libraries Blog.
  10. ↑ John and Lucy Ludwell Paradise lived in London, but owned an estate near Williamsburg, travelling to Virginia only once in 1787-1788."To James Madison from Richard Paul Jodrell, 10 August 1815," Founders Online, National Archives.
  11. ↑ "I have soared aloft with poetry and with high thought, and though I have laid my hand to many a reflection...". Eur. Alc. 962-964.
  12. ↑ Goodwin.
  13. ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on March 5, 2014.
  14. ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, 2024) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.
  15. ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 4:532-533 [no. 4531].

Further reading

External Links

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