Editorial note — THE COMEDIES OF TERENCE.
Henry T. (Henry Thomas) Riley translation
The comedies of Terence, translated by Henry Thomas Riley (1816-1878, B.A. 1840, M.A. 1859), were originally published in 1853 as part of Bohn’s Classical Library.
The series was later sold to Bell & Daldy, which became George Bell & sons; it is almost certain that the 1887 edition shown here was set from the original 1853 plates. The text appeared in an omnibus volume also containing two translations of the fables of Phaedrus: Riley’s own, and those of Christopher Smart (1765).
The 1859 Harper’s edition—issued during Riley’s lifetime—omitted the Phaedrus translations. Instead it added George Colman’s translation of Terence, coincidentally also from 1765. Only the translations themselves were included, not the notes and commentary quoted by Riley in his own notes.
The Harper’s edition differs from Bell/Bohn in a few minor points of spelling and punctuation, but it is very nearly a typographic facsimile of the London original. Readers who are familiar with the American edition of Riley’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses should be reassured to learn that the present text seems to have been much more carefully composed and typeset.
London 1853/1887 New York 1859
Both title pages were wholly capitalized. In the transcription, lines printed in smaller type are shown as lower case.
The COMEDIES of TERENCE. And THE FABLES OF PHÆDRUS. The COMEDIES of TERENCE.
Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes. By HENRY THOMAS RILEY, B.A., Late Scholar of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes. By HENRY THOMAS RILEY, B.A., Late Scholar of Clare Hall, Cambridge.
To Which is Added A METRICAL TRANSLATION OF PHÆDRUS, By Christopher Smart, A.M. To Which is Added the Blank Verse Translation of GEORGE COLMAN.
London: George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1887. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square. 1859.
This page from late in the volume shows how closely the New York edition followed the physical format of the London original.
The frontispiece shown at the beginning of this e-text is taken from the Bell/Bohn edition; it is absent from the New York edition. The New York edition also omitted all illustrations—including a similar frontispiece—from the Colman text.