Ad usum Delphini
The Delphin Classics or Ad usum Delphini was a series of annotated editions of the Latin classics, intended to be comprehensive, which was originally created in the 17th century.
The first volumes were created in the 1670s for Louis, le Grand Dauphin, heir of Louis XIV (Delphin is the adjective derived from Dauphin), and were written entirely in Latin. Thirty-nine scholars contributed to the series, which was edited by Pierre Huet with assistance from several co-editors, including Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and Anne Dacier.[1] The main features included the main Latin texts; a paraphrase in the margins or below in simpler Latin prose (an ordo verborum); extended notes on specific words and lines, mainly about history, myth, geography, or natural sciences; and indices. One useful pedagogical feature of this series is that it keeps students reading and working in the target language (Latin). [2].
The original volumes each had an engraving of Arion and the Dolphin, accompanied by the inscription in usum serenissimi Delphini (for the use of the most serene Dauphin). The collection includes 64 volumes published from 1670 to 1698.[3][4][5]
The Ad Usum Delphini series were reprinted for centuries, and served in classrooms across Europe and the Americas. Beginning in 1819 a series of Latin classics was published in England under the name Delphin Classics by Abraham John Valpy.[6] This series was edited by George Dyer (poet), who produced 143 volumes.
The expression Ad usum Delphini was sometimes used on other texts which had been expurgated because they contained passages considered inappropriate for the youth, and has been used pejoratively to indicate any work expurgated for the sake of younger audiences, and not just this series of Latin texts and commentaries.
Publishing history
(Taken from Volpilhac-Auger p. 214. [7])
| Author | Editor | Date and place of publication, Number of volumes |
|---|---|---|
| Salluste | Daniel Crispin | Paris, 1674 |
| Cornelius Nepos | Nicolas Courtin | Paris, 1675 |
| Phèdre | Pierre Danet | Paris, 1675 |
| Térence | Nicolas le Camus | Paris, 1675 |
| Velleius Paterculus | Robert Riguez, S. J. | Paris, 1675 |
| Panegyria Veteres | Jacques de la Beaune, S. J. | Paris, 1676 |
| Justin | Pierre Joseph Cantel, S. J. | Paris, 1676 |
| Claudien | Guillaume Pyrrhon (ou Pyron) | Paris, 1677 |
| Jules César | Jean Goduin, professeur à Paris | Paris, 1678 |
| Quinte Curce | Michel le Tellier, S. J. | Paris, 1678 |
| Manilius | Michel La Faye (ou Dufay) ; Pierre Daniel Huet, Remarques sur Manilius ,et Julius Caesar Scaliger, Notes | Paris, 1679 |
| Plaute | Jacques de l'Ouvre | Paris, 1679, 2 vol. |
| Tite-Live | Jean Douiat | Paris, 1679,6 vol. |
| Valère Maxime | Pierre Joseph Cantel, S. J. | Paris, 1679 |
| Boèce | Pierre Cally, professeur à Caen | Paris, 1680 |
| Dictys de Crète et Dares de Phrygie | Anne Dacier, fille de Tanneguy Lefebvre | Paris, 1680 |
| Lucrèce | Michel La Faye (ou Dufav) | Paris, 1680 |
| Martial | Vincent Colesson, professeur de droit | Paris, 1680 |
| Aulu-Gelle | Jacques Proust, S. J. | Paris, 1681 |
| Aurelius Victor | Anne Dacier, fille de Tanneguy Lefebvre | Paris, 1681 |
| Sextus Pompeius, Festus, et M. Vernus Flaccus | André Dacier | Paris, 1681 |
| Cicéron, Livres qui concernent l'art oratoire | Jacques Proust, S. J. | Paris, 1682,2 vol. |
| Tacite | Julien Pichon | Paris, 1682,4 vol. |
| Virgile | Charles de la Rue, S. J. | Paris, 1682 |
| Eutrope | Anne Dacier, fille de Tanneguy Lefebvre | Paris, 1683 |
| Cicéron, Discours | Charles de Mérouville, S. J. | Paris, 1684, 3 vol. |
| Juvénal et Perse | Louis Desprez | Paris, 1684 |
| Suétone | Augustin Babelon | Paris, 1684 |
| Catulle, Tibulle et Properce | Philippe Dubois | Paris, 1685,2 vol. |
| Cicéron, Épîtres adfamiliares | Philibert Quartier | Paris, 1685 |
| Pline l'ancien, Histoire naturelle | Jean Hardouin, S. J. | Paris, 1685,5 vol. |
| Stace | Claude Berault | Paris, 1685, 2 vol. |
| Prudence | Etienne Chamillard, S. J. | Paris, 1687 |
| Apulée | Jules Fleury, chanoine de Chartres | Paris, 1688, 2 vol. |
| Cicéron, Ouvrages philosophiques | François L'Honoré, S. J. | Paris, 1689 |
| Ovide | Daniel Crispin | Lyon, 1689,4 vol. |
| Horace | Louis Desprez | Paris, 1691,2 vol. |
| Pline l'ancien, Histoire naturelle | Jean Hardouin, S. J. | Paris, 1723, 3 vol. in fol. (nouv. édition) |
| Ausone | Jules Fleury ; Jean-Baptiste Souchay | Paris, 1730 |
Reception and influence
The Ad usum Delphini collection was referred to by E.T.A. Hoffmann in Lebensansichten des Katers Murr (1819)[8].
„Sie sind, unterbrach ihn der Prinz, ein spaßhafter Mann.“ — Ganz und gar nicht, fuhr Kreisler fort, ich liebe zwar den Spaß, aber nur den schlechten, und der ist nun wieder nicht spaßhaft. Gegenwärtig wollt' ich gern nach Neapel gehen, und beim Molo einige gute Fischer- und Banditenlieder aufschreiben ad usum delphini.
The Ad usum Delphini collection was referred to by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in Devereux, Book IV (1829):[9]
let me turn to Milord Bolingbroke, and ask him whether England can produce a scholar equal to Peter Huet, who in twenty years wrote notes to sixty-two volumes of Classics, for the sake of a prince who never read a line in one of them?" "We have some scholars," answered Bolingbroke; "but we certainly have no Huet. It is strange enough, but learning seems to me like a circle: it grows weaker the more it spreads. We now see many people capable of reading commentaries, but very few indeed capable of writing them."
by Honoré de Balzac III: Ève et David, later Les souffrances de l'inventeur, (1843).[10]
History is of two kinds--there is the official history taught in schools, a lying compilation ad usum delphini; and there is the secret history which deals with the real causes of events--a scandalous chronicle.
There is a reference to the Delphin Classics in Part I, Chapter 5 of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (1895),[11], where young Jude, trying to educate himself by reading while delivering bread from a horse and cart,
"plunge[s] into the simpler passages from Caesar, Virgil, or Horace [. . .] The only copies he had been able to lay hands on were old Delphin editions, because they were superseded, and therefore cheap. But, bad for idle school-boys, it did so happen that they were passably good for him."[12]
References
-
- "Favorite Commentaries: Terence Tunberg" in Dickinson Classical Commentaries Blog March 4, 2013 accessed on Jan. 23, 2019.
- Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. "La collection Ad usum Delphini : entre érudition et pédagogie." In: Histoire de l'éducation. n° 74, 1997. Les Humanités classiques, sous la direction de Marie-Madeleine Compère et André Chervel. pp. 203-214. Volpilhac-Auger says the volumes were published mainly between 1673 and 1691, but that the last appeared in 1730.
- Classici latini in edizione monolingue (in Italian)
- Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine, Martine Furno, and Université de Grenoble 3. 2005. La Collection Ad Usum Delphini. Des Princes. Grenoble: ELLUG.
- Delphin Classics (A. J. Valpy) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved on 1 April 2017.
- Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. "La collection Ad usum Delphini : entre érudition et pédagogie." In: Histoire de l'éducation. n° 74, 1997. Les Humanités classiques, sous la direction de Marie-Madeleine Compère et André Chervel. pp. 203-214, p. 214
- Lebensansichten des Katers Murr Project Gutenberg Retrieved on 23 April 2020.
- Edward Bulwer-LyttonDevereux Project Gutenberg Retrieved on 23 April 2020.
- Honoré de Balzac Eve and David, translated by Ellen Marriage 1999 Project Gutenberg Retrieved on 23 April 2020.
- Jude The Obscure at Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg Retrieved on 23 April 2020.
- Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, Part 1, Chapter 5, adelaide.edu.au. Retrieved on 2 April 2017.
External Links
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