George Chapman (1559-1634) was the first renowned translator of Homer into English. It seems that Hall’s motivation for undertaking this task was to please his patrons, the Cecil family, as a tool to obtain protection in a life that was notorious for troubles with the law (Young, 2003:97-101).

The first English translation of Homer consisted of the first ten books of the Iliad by Arthur Hall in 1581, although instead of using the original Greek text, he based his version on the French translation of Hugues Salel printed in 1555. Undoubtedly, Homer eventually became the leading Greek author in the Renaissance curriculum, as he had enjoyed a similar primacy in the scholarly tradition of antiquity. Four editions appeared in Strasbourg between 15, and two editions in Basle in 15. For instance, the Aldine Press produced three editions, in 1504, 1517, and 1524. A total of 246 editions gives an average of two and half per year. The demand for Homer considerably increased in the sixteenth century.

However, this figure was still comparatively small if we think of the 552 editions of Aristotle, or the 202 of Virgil (Young, 2003: 96 Jones, 2004:1-23). In the first five decades following the appearance of the Gutenberg Bible, a total of 25 editions of the Homeric texts were printed. The editor was the Byzantine scholar Demetrius Chalcondylas (1423-1511), who was born in Athens and educated in Constantinople. The editio princeps of the text of the Iliad and the Odyssey appeared in 1488: Opera. Florence: Bernardo and Nerius Nerlius Batolommeo Di Libri, 1488. More features from our Rare Book Collection

First edition the iliad