Item #17035 1759 Edition of Plato’s Dialogue Concerning the Beautifull. Plato, Socrates.
1759 Edition of Plato’s Dialogue Concerning the Beautifull

1759 Edition of Plato’s Dialogue Concerning the Beautifull

First Edition

PLATO. The Greater Hippias: A Dialogue of Plato Concerning The Beautifull. London: H. Woodfall, 1759. First Edition. Quarto, 127 pages. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, fresh endpapers. In the Greater  Hippias,In this book , Plato describes Socrates and Hippias set out to find a definition for "beauty", but are destined to fail due to their inability to formulate an answer which encompasses the entire concept. The text has an anatreptic purpose-- that is, the result of the dialogue is to defeat commonly held opinions, without necessarily offering a resolution. The Platonic concept of something “good in and of itself”  makes its first appearance in this early dialogue, which can be read as much as a serious philosophical work as a light satirical comedy with two actors. Translated by Floyer Sydenham, whose Platonic scholarship was credited with “'just criticism and extensive learning, an elegant taste, and a genius naturally philosophic' by Thomas Taylor. Leaves rippled somewhat with light foxing. In very good condition.

Item #17035

Price: $900.00