Lange, Johann Joachim

The Late Mr. Lang's Dialogues Translated Out of the French and Italian Tongues into the English, with the Words and Phrases of Every Dialogue, for the Advantage of Young Scholars, by John Justin Herwig [provenance: Mifflintown, Pa.]

Nurembergh [Nürnberg]: Christoph Riegels seel. Wittib, 1763. Paperback. 78 p. [incomplete, probably of 96 p.]; 17 cm. Signatures: A-E8 (-E8) (8vo). The remains of a contemporary wrapper are attached along the spine, but lacking otherwise. The remaining paper cover is lined with part of a page of a German-language book. Several ink notations in the lower margins indicating that this belonged to David Beidleman of Mifflin Town [Mifflintown, Pa.]. A few ink corrections of errors. A translation of Verbesserte und Erleichterte Lateinische Grammatica by Johann Joachim Lange (1670-1744), a German Protestant theologian. The year prior to this publication the same printer (Christoph Riegels seel. Wittib) had issued a 96-page French edition of the work: Dialogues de Feu Monsieur Lang, Traduits du Latin Avec les Mots et Phrases de Chaque Dialogue: pour l'Usage des Jeunes Gens. In 1769 an English translation was published in London by Edward and Charles Dilly under the title: Easy and Pleasant Latin Conversations or, One Hundred and Forty-four Dialogues on Common Subjects, Morals, and the First Part of the Roman History. The edition offered here was intended to help German speakers learn English. Unfortunately, the translator, John Justin Herwig, had a less than perfect understanding of English. This may explain the scarcity of the item (only one copy is listed on Worldcat, with no physical description). The dialogues are grouped by "decades," or groups of 10 dialogues each. The final leaf of signature E is lacking and the text ends at the beginning of the 10th dialogue in the ninth decade (the 9th group of 10). Presumably a final signature is also lacking, which would have brought the page total to 96, which agrees with the size of the French edition issued one year earlier by the same printer. Extremely scarce and unusual 18th-century work. In Poor Condition: incomplete, as described above; old soiling and dampstaining; stitching is going. Poor. Item #002197

Price: $175.00