[Fish and Angling -] Oppian's Halieuticks of the Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the Ancients in V. Books.

[William DIAPER (1685-1717), & John JONES]. – OPPIAN [i.e. OPPIANUS (b. 183 AD)]

Oppian's Halieuticks of the Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the Ancients in V. Books. Translated from the Greek, with an Account of Oppian's Life and Writings, and a Catalogue of his Fishes. Oxford: printed at the Theater [sic.], 1722. 

Large octavo signed in 4s (9 ½ x 5 ¾ inches; 242 x 146mm), outer and lower edges uncut. Pp. [i-viii], 1-13[-14]; [i-ii] 1-232; [i-viii]. Half-title (licence on verso dated 6 Feb 1722), title with engraved vignette view of the Sheldonian Theatre (verso blank), dedication to Lord Carnarvon (4pp), ‘An Account of the Life and Writings of Oppian’ by Jon Jones (13pp), [1 blank page]; section title ‘Oppian’s Halieuticks Part I. Of the Nature of Fishes. In Two Books. Translated by Mr. Diaper’ (verso blank), pp.1-58 text ‘The First Book’, pp.59-107 text ‘The Second Book’; ‘Oppian’s Halieuticks Part II. Of the Fishing of the Ancients In Three Books. Translated by John Jones’ (verso blank), pp. 111-146 text ‘The Third Book’, pp.147-183 text ‘The Fourth Book’; pp.184-221 text ‘The Fifth Book’, [1 blank page]; pp.123-232 text ‘A Catalogue of the Fishes in Oppian’ [by Jones]; pp.[i-vii] ‘The Names of the Subscribers’, [1 blank page].

Late 19th/early 20th century polished calf by Ramage, covers paneled in gilt, the spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt.

Condition: contents excellent; binding with very slight rubbing to extremities (see images)

Provenance: ‘J.E.’ (early initials on title and following leaf); two early catalogue clippings at front (one from an auction, one from a bookseller); A.J.P. (initials on front free endpaper); Brick Row Bookhop, San Francisco (label at front).

A fine copy of the first English translation of the five books Oppian ("easily the most important" of the ancient writers on fish and fishing) – the first two books are the final work that Diaper completed before his early death. Swift was a champion of his work, as was Geoffrey Grigson “Diaper wrote with a purity of English, with an uncommon neatness and sharpness of form, and delicacy of ear”. Diaper’s friend, John Jones, completed the work.

‘John Jones noted in his preface to the [present work….], "He has somewhat paraphrased the Author…The Richness of his Fancy and copious Expression maintain the Character and Spirit of Oppian, even while he recedes from the Letter of the Original" (p. 13). One example of this appears in the extended image from the end of the first book, referring to the shoals of the "Slime-Fish":

As when soft Snows, brought down by Western Gales,

Silent descend and spread on all the Vales;

Add to the Plains, and on the Mountains shine,

While in chang'd Fields the starving Cattle pine;

Nature bears all one Face, looks coldly bright,

And mourns her lost Variety in White,

Unlike themselves the Objects glare around, 

And with false Rays the dazzled Sight confound:

So, where the Shoal appears, the changing Streams

Lose their Sky-blew, and shine with silver Gleams."

That most is of Diaper's own invention and mediates away from the mythical allusions in the original can be seen by comparing it with a prose translation of Oppian's Greek: "As when the swift might of Zephyrus from the West shadows with snow-flakes a spacious garden and nothing of the dark earth appears to the eye, but all is white and covered with snow on snow; even so in that season, full to overflowing with the infinite shoals of Fry, white shines the garden of Poseidon."

It was in performances like this that Geoffrey Grigson identified Diaper’s capacity for original observation so sharply in contrast to the derivative generalities of the age. "There is not so much writing of that order…at any time, and in Diaper’s time especially." But precisely because it conflicted with contemporary aesthetics, its skillful and imaginative nature had a long time to wait for rediscovery.’ (Wikipedia) 

ESTC T139002. Westwood & Satchell, p. 165. Heckscher 1483: "The first two books treat of the natural history of fishes and the others the art of fishing." Draper translated the first two books, Jones the final three;Wood p. 500; Brunet IV:196; Dean's Bibliography of Fishes III:295 ("of all the ancient writers on fish and fishing, Oppian is easily the most important").