£200
8vo, pp. viii, 272, [2] + 1 plate. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spine divided by raised bands between double gilt rules, black morocco label. Foxed and spotted. Binding rubbed and somewhat worn and scratched, spine sunned. gift inscription to flyleaf ‘With Mr Blake’s kind regards to the Rev. Alan Macgregor’ dated 1846, ownership inscription of Charles Saroléa to title-page, gift note ‘Hermann Palsson from O.K. Schram’ tipped in to flyleaf.
The first English translation of the first grammar of Icelandic, produced by polyglot scholar and philologist Rasmus Rask (1787-1832). By his early twenties he had systematically studied half a dozen languages and published this work in Danish in 1811. The translator George Webbe Dasent (1817-1896) was encouraged in his study of Scandinavian literature by Jakob Grimm, and later published the first English translation of Njal's saga. From the library of distinguished scholar of Icelandic, Hermann Palsson, and before that the collection of Belgian philologist and avid book collector Charles Saroléa (1870-1953).
