Illustrations of Euripides, on the Ion and the Bacchae

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by Richard P. Jodrell

Jodrell's Illustrations of Euripides
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 Category:English, Category:Latin and Category: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]

After the final entry in the minute book of the President and Faculty of the College of William & Mary for 1729–1784, is the text for an honorary degree of Master of Arts granted to Jodrell on February 6, 1786.[8] The diploma was signed by the President of the College, the Reverend James Madison, and Professors George Wythe, Robert Andrews, and Charles Bellini. Madison had been introduced to Jodrell sometime prior to 1786 by John Paradise (1743–1795), "which led to that of the diploma of a degree in your University of Williamsburgh."[9] The diploma quotes from Euripides Alcestis, suggesting Jodrell has "sped on high through poetry and touching many stories."

Illustrations of Euripides, on the Ion and the Bacchae is one of Jodrell's three commentaries on the Greek playwright, in which he interprets the tragedy as an illustration of "conjugal love and sacrifice."[10] In addition to the Ion and the Bacchae, Jodrell also published Illustrations of Euripides, on the Alcestis, in 1789.

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.[11]

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the 1806 Jefferson Inventory of books inherited from Wythe as "Joddrell's [sic] illustrations of Euripides. 8vo." Sowerby describes Jefferson's copy as:

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.[12]

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. ↑ Faculty Minute Book, 1729–1784, Faculty Assembly Records, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries (image 336).
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Richard Paul Jodrell, Illustrations of Euripides, on the Alcestis (London: J. Nichols, 1789), 3.
  11. ↑ Goodwin.
  12. ↑ 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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