Michel Maittaire (also Michael) (1668 – 7 September 1747) was a French-born classical scholar and bibliographer in England, and a tutor to Lord
Philip Stanhope Philip Stanhope may refer to:
* Philip Stanhope (Royalist officer) (died 1645), English Civil War Royalist colonel
* Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield (1584–1656), English peer
* Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield (1634&ndash ...
. He edited an edition of
Quintus Curtius Rufus
Quintus Curtius Rufus () was a Roman historian, probably of the 1st century, author of his only known and only surviving work, ''Historiae Alexandri Magni'', " Histories of Alexander the Great", or more fully ''Historiarum Alexandri Magni Maced ...
, later owned by
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...
. His works included a grammar of English (1712).
Life
He was born in France of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
parents, who around the time of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without ...
moved to England. He obtained a king's scholarship at
Westminster School
Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...
in 1682.
Richard Busby
Richard Busby (; 22 September 1606 – 6 April 1695) was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years. Among the more illustrious of his pupils were Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, R ...
, then head-master, made him concentrate on the study of Greek and Latin. On leaving school he went to
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
, where he was received by the Vaillants, and then to Paris. On returning to England he gained the goodwill of
Robert South
Robert South (4 September 1634 – 8 July 1716) was an English churchman who was known for his combative preaching and his Latin poetry.
Early life
He was the son of Robert South, a London merchant, and Elizabeth Berry. He was born at Hackney ...
, at the time a canon of
Christ Church, Oxford; it is said that he compiled a list of the Greek words that were wrongly accented in the works of
William Sherlock. South made him 'canoneer' student of Christ Church, and he took the degree of M.A. on 23 March 1696, being incorporated M.A. at Cambridge in 1708. In 1695 he was appointed second master of Westminster, but resigned in 1699 and kept a private school, one of the pupils at which was
Stephen Martin Leake. Late in life he was Latin tutor to Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield's son. In 1728 he was living in a house in Orange Street, near
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon ...
, London.
Maittaire died on 7 September 1747, aged 79. Over fifty years he had formed a large library, rich in early printed editions. It was sold by auction in London by Cock & Langford, the sale beginning on 21 November 1748 and lasting for forty-four evenings.
Works
Maittaire began to publish about 1706. His major works are his ''Annales Typographici'' and other writings on the
history of printing
The history of printing starts as early as 3000 BCE, when the proto-Elamite and Sumerian civilizations used cylinder seals to certify documents written in clay tablets . Other early forms include block seals, hammered coinage, pottery imprints ...
, and of editions of the classics, especially the series of Latin classics printed in
duodecimo
Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.
The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. ...
by
Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher.
Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...
and Watts of London from 1713 to 1719. Pope had made Maittaire in the manuscript of the ''
Dunciad
''The Dunciad'' is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring ...
'' an inhabitant of the "Kingdom of Dullness", but the lines were not printed, after a request made for their suppression by
Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford
Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (2 June 1689 – 16 June 1741), styled Lord Harley between 1711 and 1724, was a British politician, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts.
Background
Harley was the only son of Robe ...
, a patron of Maittaire. Extracts from Maittaire's letters to the Earl of Oxford are printed in
John Nichols's ''Literary Anecdotes'', and other letters by him are in
George Ballard's collection in the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...
. In his earliest letters he signs his name "Michell Mattaire".
Maittaire's works include:
* ''Græcæ Linguæ Dialecti'', London, 1706, with a preface by
Thomas Knipe
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
; also an edition by
Johan Frederik Reitz Johan
* Johan (given name)
* ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller
* Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group
** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group
* Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
* Jo-Han, a manu ...
, Hague, 1738, and an improved edition by
Friedrich Wilhelm Sturz Friedrich may refer to:
Names
*Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich''
*Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich''
Other
*Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...
, Leipzig, 1807.
* ''Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens'', London, 1709.
* ''An Essay against Arianism and some other Heresies'' (against
William Whiston
William Whiston (9 December 166722 August 1752) was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to ins ...
), London, 1711; also three other similar pamphlets, London, 1711.
* ''The English Grammar'', London, 1712. This and his ''Græcæ Linguæ Dialecti'' were for the use of Westminster School.
* ''Opera et Fragmenta Veterum Poetarum Latinorum Profanorum et Ecclesiasticorum'', 2 vols. London, 1713, published by subscription and dedicated to
Prince Eugene; some copies have the title-page dated 1723.
* Latin Classics, 1713–19, edited by M. M.: in 1713, Paterculus, Justin, Lucretius (dedicated to
Richard Mead
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
), Phædrus, Sallust, Terence; in 1715, Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius, C. Nepos, Florus, Horace, Ovid, Virgil; in 1716, Cæsar, Martial, Juvenal (dedicated to
Thomas Rawlinson)
and Persius, Q. Curtius; in 1719, Lucan. Editions of Sophocles, Homer, Livy, Pliny, and the ''Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta'', were attributed to Maittaire, but were disclaimed by him.
* The New Testament (Greek), ed. by M. M., 1714, 1756.
* ''Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium, vitas et libros complectens'', 2 vols. London, 1717.
* ''Annales Typographici ab Artis inventæ origine ad annum MD'' (and continued from 1500 to 1664), 5 vols. 1719–41, (vols. i-iii. Hague, vol. iv. Amsterdam, vol. v. London).
* ''Batrachomyomachia'', ed. by M. M., 1721.
* ''Miscellanea Græcorum aliquot Scriptorum Carmina cum Versione Latina et Notis'', London, 1722.
* ''Anacreontis Opera'', ed. by M. M., 1725; 1740.
* ''P. Petiti ... in tres priores Aretæi Cappadocis libros Commentarii'', ed. by M. M., 1726.
* ''Marmorum Arundellianorum, Seldenianorum, aliorumque Academiæ Oxoniensi donatorum, cum variis Commentariis et indice, secunda editio'', with appendix, London, 1732, 1733.
* ''Aretæi de causis ... morborum ... cum Maittairii opusculis in eundem'', 1735.
* ''Antiquæ Inscriptiones duæ'' (on the ''
Tabulae Heracleenses
The Heraclean Tablets (in older texts, the ''Heraclean Table(s)''; Lat.''Tabulae Heracleenses'') are bronze tablets found a short distance from the site of Heraclea Lucania, in the direction of Metapontum. They are significant for the study of Rom ...
'' inscriptions found at
Heraclea Lucania
Heraclea, also Heracleia or Herakleia ( grc, Ἡράκλεια), was an ancient city of Magna Graecia. It was situated on the Gulf of Taranto between the rivers Aciris (modern Agri) and Siris (modern Sinni). The ruins of the city are located i ...
), London, 1736.
* ''Carmen Epinicium'' (on Catharine I of Russia),
737 737 most commonly refers to:
* Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane
** Boeing 737 Classic
** Boeing 737 MAX
** Boeing 737 Next Generation
* AD 737, a year in the common era
* 737 BC, a year
* 737 (number), a number
737 may al ...
* ''Plutarch's Αποφθἰγματα'', ed. by M. M., 1740.
* ''Senilia, sive Poetica aliquot... tentamina'', London, 1742.
Notes
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maittaire, Michael
1668 births
1747 deaths
French classical scholars
Linguists of English
French bibliographers
French male non-fiction writers