[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 12 KB, 260x346, great-book.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
21755407 No.21755407 [Reply] [Original]

Do any of you anons have some of these in your collection?
Are you satisfied with them?
What is the best place to buy them?
Looking at amazon offers, the provided images almost always appear genuine, but I seldom see the publisher, the author, or the ISBN fields filled in.
Such postings also frequently have a disproportionate amount of negative reviews.

>> No.21755425

>>21755407
I own the Plato and the Homer. The Plato is Jowett which is okay (I prefer Jowett to Hackett but less than La Rouchefoucauld). The Homer is Sam Butler which is abysmal. Most of the other texts are public domain but I can’t comment on them.

>> No.21755487

>>21755425
I've primarily set my eyes on the Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes volume as it seems like the greatest edition for what I've heard is the best translation of their plays, and the Plutarch volume as every other Parallel Lives edition seems dreadful.
Where did you get your volumes from, if I might ask? How's the type and the paper quality?

>> No.21755495

>>21755487
I read the version at the library first and then I bought one from EBay because I wanted to reread it to myself at home. The type is quite small but you get used to it and the paper is okay.

>> No.21755496

>>21755407
these great book sets always have shite translations usually

>> No.21755501

>>21755496
It depends. They use only public domain works and most of those are antiquated 18th century stuff. If you want readable just buy Penguin.

>> No.21755572

>>21755487
I can say the translations there are decent albeit a few odd choices. Aristophanes used accent humor in a lot of his works and the Spartan accent is rendered as Irish/ Scottish in these translations. Be prepared to read a bunch of “ayeee” and similar vernacular.

>> No.21755591

>>21755487
I would have preferred a Kraut accent for the Spartans since Germany is more associated with Militarism. An Irish accent just seems like an odd choice.

>> No.21756209

>>21755407
They're good because they're cheap, but the format is not so good. The pages are too large, the books are heavy, and sometimes there's little space to make notes.
I much prefer Penguin Classics.

>>21755487
>it seems like the greatest edition for what I've heard is the best translation of their plays, and the Plutarch volume as every other Parallel Lives edition seems dreadful

It's the opposite.
The translations of the plays are shit, outdated, they're simply bad verse, there's no poetry in there, and the Chicago translations (Lattimore, etc.) are much better.
The Plutarch translation is the Dryden one, which is very readable.

>> No.21756364

>>21755407
The mathematical works in the set tend to have good translations. Not so for the rest.

>> No.21756369
File: 21 KB, 600x600, st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
21756369

>>21756364
They actually took out some of the mathematical works in the 90s rerelease because they assumed the average reader was too retarded to understand them. In particular "On Conics."

>> No.21757361
File: 3.83 MB, 2196x3339, classical-greek-lit.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
21757361

>>21755572
>>21755591
Humorous, thanks
>>21756209
Ah, I see. I seem to be able to corroborate this statement in other places, so I'll go with that option, thank you.
However, I remember reading here once that as for Aristophanes' comedies, the greatest rendition thus far, had been done by Benjamin Bickley Rogers; I could only find it in this edition and a few other self-published Amazon ones.
If you're knowledgeable about Aristophanes, are you perchance in disagreement with this statement?
>>21756369
Somber

>> No.21758886

>>21755407
Go on AbeBooks or Biblio

>> No.21759791

>>21757361
>Aristophanes' comedies, the greatest rendition thus far, had been done by Benjamin Bickley Rogers
Not the anon you replied to but West&West have a very good translation of The Clouds. It does an especially good job of explaining period specific jokes.

>> No.21761460

>>21755407
I used to own a set, but it was too much trouble to move.
Now I have all of these and the "Harvard Classics" on my Kindle.
I've been reading them for years now, best $10 I've ever spent.

>> No.21762665

>>21756209
Agreed with this.
Much better to get the Kindle versions or buy from other publishers.
they don't have much collecting value either, unfortunately.

>> No.21762770

>>21755425
Good nice picks.

>> No.21763127

theyre good, i have the greek plays