8vo. 2 parts in 1: (XX),101,(3),104,(12 index, errata) p., folding table. Half vellum. 17 cm (Ref: Hoffmann 1,283; Cooper/Gudeman 44 & 174; Schrier p. 36; Brunet 1,477; Moss 1,122; Graesse 1,214; Ebert 1191; ESTC R14743) (Details: The work consists of two parts, each with its own title page; the first contains the Greek text and commentary, the second the Latin translation and analytical notes. Short title in ink on the back. The folding plate shows a 'Synopsis libri Poeticae' ) (Condition: Binding somewhat used. Vellum age-tanned. Vellum on the back slightly soiled. Front flyleaf removed) (Note: 'The influence of Aristotle, 384-322 BC, on Western intellectual life is immense, so much so that once one begins to track it, no field of inquiry can be identified that it would be safe to overlook. Aristotle laid the foundations for not one but two sciences, logic and biology, an achievement unmatched by any thinker before or since'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 2010, p. 70) For centuries his authority guided the further development of some of the sciences. From the 16th century to the age of Romanticism Aristotle's views, developped in his 'De arte poetica', played a dominant role in the theory and practice of European literature, especially of drama. And with Jacob Bernay's 'Grundzüge der verlorenen Abhandlung des Aristoteles über Wirkung der Tragödie' (1857), who rejected the moral (Lessing) and aesthetic (Goethe) tradition of 'catharsis', and who introduced the concept of the intentional arousal and discharge of emotions, to the discussion, Aristotle's description of the effect of tragedy as a 'catharsis', (cleansing, or purgation) of tragic emotions (pity and fear) 'became the focus of a debate on the purposes of literature which attracts contributors up to the present day'. (O.J. Schrier, 'The Poetics of Aristotle and the Tractatus Coislinianus, a Bibliography from about 900 till 1996', Leiden, 1998, p. 1) (Nietzsche, Freud, Wagner, Wilamowitz-Moellendorff et 'multi alii' followed). Aristotle's 'De poetica liber' is 'the only piece of technical writing from antiquity that still plays a role in scholarly discourse. If Aristotle had confined himself to discussing Greek poetry from the viewpoint of its formal aspects or its historical development, his work would still have been of eminent importance, but only for classicists and historians of literature. He did more, however, laying bare what in his view are the fundamentals of poetry, giving his criteria for distinguishing literary genres, and pointing out along which lines he thought these and the works of individual poets should be evaluated. In pursuing these targets, he formulated insights that have been thought to be applicable even to modern narrative genres like the detective story and the film. These aspects of the Poetics make it an interesting starting-point for discussions in wide areas of modern literary theory'. (Idem, Ibidem) § This edition of 1696 is a revision of Goulston's 'De Poetica' edition of 1623. It was edited in 1696 by the English schoolmaster James Upton, 1670-1749, once a fellow of King's College at Cambridge. Upton udated the work of 1623, making better use of the 'De Poetica' edition of the Dutch scholar Daniel Heinsius (Leiden 1610/11, and 1643), and of the Aristotle edition of the German scholar Friedrich Sylburg, who provided not only notes, but also the Greek text for this edition (Frankfurt 1584/87, volume 2). Upton added, he tells in the preface, also material he found in various authors, among whom Samuel Petit's 'Leges Atticae' (Paris 1635) and Daniel Heinsius' 'De tragoediae constitutione' (Leiden 1611), and André Dacier's French translation of the Poetics (Paris 1692). Upton also consulted Du Val's Aristotle edition (Paris 1619, 1639). He also revised Goulstons Latin translation) § Theodor Goulston, 1576-1632, studied in Oxford, and was a medical doctor in London. His Poetics edition was reissued in 1696, 1728, 1731, 1745 and 1780. In 1619 Goulston had already published in London 'Versio Latina et Paraphrasis in Aristotelis Rhetoricam' (See his Wikipedia article) (Collation: Ad 1: *2, A-O8, P4, Q2. (Folding table after leaf before A1)) (Photographs on request)