The Oxford Library of Italian Classics 1961 - 1966

General Editor: Archibald Colquhoun.

Between 1961 and 1966 Oxford University Press with the support of the Italian Institute and the Anglo-Italian Cultural Commission published 13 volumes in a series titled: The Oxford Library of Italian Classics. In the first year 5 titles were produced bearing the following raison d’etre on the back of the dust jacket:

With the end of the Second World War, large numbers of young ex-servicemen returned from Italy with a new awareness of Italian art and culture. For the first time since the turn of the century contemporary Italian writers became widely read, and the names of a brilliant new school became familiar to English readers. Nowadays good translations of modern Italian writers, known and little known, are familiar features of every public library.

In the early fifties came the beginning of an increased interest also in Italian writing of the past, notably with the translation into English of two classic works, Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi and Ippolito Nievo’s Le confessioni di un ottuagenerio. But there remained great gaps of what was available of a rich and varied literature. Machiavelli, for instance, was represented by numerous versions of Il principe and Discorsi while his plays and other literary works were comparatively neglected. Alfieri’s Vita and Pellico’s Le mie prigioni, which represented Italy to generations of our ancestors, were almost unknown except to specialists.

The object of the series is, principally, to remedy these omissions but there will also be room for new translations of familiar works when the opportunity occurs of including one of exceptional quality. Thus, while three of the first five volumes present works which are virtually unknown to English readers there is also a remarkable new translation, in terza rima, of Dante’s Inferno.

After the initial five volumes the general series description was dropped from the back of the dust jacket and only retained as a series entry: The Oxford library of Italian Classics; General Editor: Archibald Colquhoun, on the half-title page. The final two volumes by Pirandello and Leopardi were not published under the general editorship of Archibald Colquhoun – no series editor is named.

The first five volumes were printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), and the remainder by Richard Clay and Company Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk. In 1965 they became Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press), Ltd for Francesco Guicciardini’s Selected writings, and Leopardi’s Selected prose and poetry. The Imprint data would appear to suggest that as the former volume by Guicciardini details both the series editor: Archibald Colquhoun and The Chaucer Press, but the Pirandello only acknowledges the series editor on the back cover. The final volume in the series, Leopardi, Selected prose and poetry, makes no acknowledgement of Colquhoun as the series editor whatsoever. This may indicate that although printed (and possibly published) before the Guicciardini it was either that Colquhoun did not commission the Pirandello or the Leopardi or he stopped editing the series prior to its completion for some other reason. Of course there is another solution, his exclusion was merely a publisher’s or printer’s error.


The Series:

1961

Dante Alighieri [1265 – 1321]
The Inferno from La Divina Commedia, translated from the text established by La Societa Dantesca Italiana by Warwick Chipman, Introduction and notes by Fr Kenelm Foster. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), pp. xxviii, 151.

Italian regional tales of the nineteenth century selected and introduced by Archibald Colquhoun and Neville Rogers and translated by Bernard Wall, Archibald Colquhoun, Lovett F Edwards, Isabel Quigly, Constance Hutton, Neville Rogers, Angus Davidson, W J Strachan, Adeline Hartcup, Anthony Rhodes, George Arthurson. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), pp. xv, 268.

[Contents: Iginio Ugo Tarchetti (1841-69): The ghost in the raspberry bush, translated by Bernard Wall; Camillo Boito (1836-1914): A thing apart, translated by Archibald Colquhoun; Roberto Sacchetti (1847-81): Wedding eve, translated by Lovett F Edwards; Giovanni Verga (1840-1922): Cavalleria Rusticana, translated by Archibald Colquhoun; Edmondo De Amicis (1846-1908): Carmela, translated by Isabel Quigly; Salvatore Di Giacomo (1864-1934): Pasquino, translated by Constance Hutton; Renato Fucini (1843-1922): The witch. The monument, translated by Neville Rogers; Matilde Serao (1856-1927): Checchina’s virtue, translated by Angus Davidson; Edoardo Scarfoglio (1860-1917): The Phrynè case, translated by W J Strachan; Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938): The hero, translated by Adeline Hartcup, The vigil, translated by Anthony Rhodes; Grazia Deledda (1875-1936): The sorcerer, translated by by George Arthurson.]

Machiavelli, Niccolò [1469 – 1527]
The literary works of Machiavelli: Mandragola, Clizia, A dialogue on language, Belfagor, with selections from the private correspondence edited and translated by J R Hale. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), pp. xxvi, 202.

Goldoni, Carlo [1707 – 1793]
Three comedies: Mine Hostess (La Locandiera), translated by Clifford Bax; The Boors (I Rusteghi), translated by I M Rawson; The Fan (Il Ventaglio) translated by Eleanor & Herbert Farjeon; introduced by Gabriele Baldini. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), pp. xxvii, 293.

Alfieri, Vittorio [1749 – 1803]
Memoirs: the anonymous translation from the Italian of 1810, revised and introduced by E R Vincent. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche Fratelli Stianti Sancasciano Val Di Pesa (Florence), pp. xix, 310.


1962

Abba, Giuseppe Cesare [1838 – 1910]
The diary of one of Garibaldi’s Thousand, translated with an introduction by E R Vincent. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. pp.xxi, 166.

Fogazzaro, Antonio [1842 – 1911]
The little world of the past, translated by W J Strachan with an introduction by Tommaso Gallarati Scotti. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. pp.xii, 358.

Gozzi, Carlo [1720 – 1806]
Useless memoirs, the translation of John Aldington Symonds, edited, revised and abridged by Philip Horne with an introduction by Harold Acton. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. pp. xxiv, 285.


1963

Pellico, Silvio [1788 – 1854]
My prisons, translated and introduced with notes by I G Capaldi. Foreword by Archibald Colquhoun. London: Oxford University Press, 1963. pp. xxiv. 199.


1964

Manzoni, Alessandro [1785 – 1873]
The coloumn of Infamy. Prefaced by Cesare Beccaria’s Of crimes and punishments. Translated [respectively] by Kenelm Foster and Jane Grigson. With an introduction by A.P. d’Entrèves. London: Oxford University Press, 1964. pp. xxii, 212,


1965

Guicciardini, Francesco [1483 – 1540]
Selected writings, edited and introduced by Cecil Grayson. Translated by Margaret Grayson. London: Oxford University Press., 1965, pp. xix, 170.

Pirandello, Luigi [1867 – 1936]
Short stories, selected, translated and introduced by Frederick May. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. pp. xxxvi, 260.


1966

Leopardi, Giacomo [1798 – 1837]
Selected prose and poetry, edited, translated and introduced by Iris Origo and John Heath-Stubbs. London: Oxford University press, pp. xiii, 312.

The Penguin Country Library 1984 - 1986

Penguin Country Library (1)

An alphabetical list of the books published in this series:

Baker, John Alec (2)
The Peregrine
Country Library
Penguin, Sep 1984 (3) [1967]
ISBN 0-14-059004-8

Bourne, George (George Sturt 1863–1927)
Change in the Village
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1984 [1912]
ISBN 0-14-059002-1

Cameron, David Kerr
The Cornkister Days: A portrait of a land and its rituals
Country Library
Penguin, 1986 [1984]
ISBN 0-14-010097-0

Collis, John Stewart (1900-1984)
The Worm Forgives the Plough
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1986 [1973]
ISBN 0-14-059012-9

Holland, William (1746-1819) Edited by Jack Ayres
Paupers and Pig Killers: The Diary of William Holland, a Somerset Parson, 1799-1818
Country Library
Penguin, May 1986 [1984]
ISBN 0-14-059019-6

Kitchen, Fred (1891-1961)
Brother to the Ox. The autobiography of a farm labourer
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1984 [1940]
ISBN 0-14-059001-3

Kilvert, Francis (1840-72)
Kilvert's Diary, 1870-79: Selections from the Diary of the Rev Francis Kilvert
Country Library
Penguin, Sep 1984 [1938-40]
ISBN 0-14-059008-0

Philip, Neil (compiler)
Between Earth and Sky: Poetry and Prose of English Rural Life and Work Between the Enclosures and the Great War
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1984
ISBN 0-14-059005-6

Walton, Izaak (1593-1683)
The Compleat Angler, edited by Bryan Loughrey with a postscript by Lord Home
Country Library
Penguin, Mar 1985 [1653]
ISBN 0-14-059007-2

Webb, Mary [1881-1927]
Precious Bane
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1985 [1924]
ISBN 0-14-059009-9

White, T.H. (1906-64)
The Goshawk
Country Library
Penguin, Jun 1984 [1951]
ISBN 0-14-059003-X

Williamson, Henry (1895-1977)
Tarka the Otter, his joyful water-life and death in the two rivers, illus. by C F Tunnicliffe
Country Library
Penguin, Apr 1985 [1927]
ISBN 0-14-059011-0

Wyatt, John
The Shining Levels: The Story of a Man Who Went Back to Nature, drawings by Elisabeth Trimby
Country Library
Penguin, Apr 1986 [1973]
ISBN 0-14-059015-3

Young, Andrew (1885-1971)
A Prospect of Flowers. A book about wild flowers, illustrations from Gerard's Herbal.
Country Library
Penguin, May 1986 [1945]
ISBN 0-14-059010-2


Chronology of the Penguin Country Library as published by Penguin:

1984

Bourne, George Change in the Village

Kitchen, Fred *Brother to the Ox (4)

Philip, Neil (compiler) Between Earth and Sky (5)

White, T.H. The Goshawk

Baker, John Alec The Peregrine

Kilvert, Francis Kilvert's Diary, 1870-79

1985

Walton, Izaak The Compleat Angler (6)

Williamson, Henry Tarka the Otter (7)

Webb, Mary Precious Bane

1986

Holland, William Paupers and Pig Killers (8)

Wyatt, John The Shining Levels

Young, Andrew A Prospect of Flowers

Collis, John Stewart *The Worm Forgives the Plough

Cameron, David Kerr The Cornkister Days (9)


Original publication dates:

1653 Walton, Izaak The Compleat Angler

1799 Holland, William Paupers and Pig Killers

1870 Kilvert, Francis Kilvert's Diary, 1870-79

1912 Bourne, George Change in the Village

1924 Webb, Mary Precious Bane

1927 Williamson, Henry Tarka the Otter

1940 Kitchen, Fred Brother to the Ox

1945 Young, Andrew A Prospect of Flowers

1951 White, T.H. The Goshawk

1967 Baker, John Alec The Peregrine

1973 Collis, John Stewart The Worm Forgives the Plough

1973 Wyatt, John The Shining Levels

1984 Cameron, David Kerr The Cornkister Days

1984 Philip, Neil (compiler) Between Earth and Sky


Acknowledgement:
I am very grateful to Martin Yates, Publications Officer of The Penguin Collectors Society for additional bibliographical information.

Notes:

1. ‘This delightful, inimitably English series of books ranges from fiction to folk lore, from autobiography to natural history. Whatever the subject, each book has a special sort of relationship with the English or British countryside’, this is the only advert for the series in: Paupers and pig killers: The diary of William Holland, a Somerset Parson, 1799-1818. Penguin,1986.
2. All the books are in ‘B’ format [7 ½ x 5 in./ 198 x 129mm.]
3. First published by Penguin 1976.
4. *This volume and John Stewart Collis, The worm forgives the plough, are the only two volumes not using the publishers device on the half-title page: an engraving 1 X 1”, of an Oak tree with a cow grazing, and horse standing at its base, arranged around the top in a semicircle is the series title PENGUIN COUNTRY LIBRARY.
5. This is the only volume originally published by Penguin.
6. First published by Penguin in 1939 as a yellow cover Miscellaneous Main Series No 238. No introduction or notes but wood engravings by Gertrude Hermes.
7. First published by Penguin in March 1937 as Main Series No. 81 (orange cover, no introduction or illustrations).
8. Several of the volumes advertise other books in this series, but this is the only one giving an overview with a list of 9 further titles. The four missing from the entry are the final four on the above list. No General Editor is listed.
9. Penguin says that this was published in 1987, however the imprint is ‘1986’. It is also the only one of the series not indicated as such on both cover and spine, but only on the half title which states: ‘PENGUIN COUNTRY LIBRARY’ + the engraving. I wonder if this was an error, or a premonition that it was to be the final one in the series?