Le theatre des Grecs

First edition, illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece by Cazes engraved by Tardieu, a title vignette by Humblot repeated, and four repeated headpieces by the same artist, as well as a folding map of ancient Greece and a plate of medals. Title pages printed in red and black.
Contemporary full mottled and polished calf. Spine richly gilt in compartments. Red morocco title label, volume label in gilt-decorated brown calf. Losses to the headcaps of volumes I and III. Splits to the upper joints of volume I. In volume I, from pages 190 to 370, two small wormholes affect the upper margin; from page 371 onwards, these gradually develop into short tunnels, extending 1.5 cm along the upper margin near the fore-edge. The two flyleaves before the title page of volume I have been removed, the volume opening directly onto the title page. Generally clean, with occasional browning or faint foxing to a few leaves.

Brumoy's publication had a major impact on the revival of Greek theatre in France and, subsequently, across Europe. At the time he was writing, classical Greek plays were known only to scholars and had largely fallen out of public readership. Brumoy presented the entire corpus of Greek drama as it was known in his day, offering prose translations—either complete or anthological—of the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. The first two volumes include full translations of three tragedies by Sophocles (Œdipe-Roi, Électre, Philoctète) and four by Euripides, along with an anthology and analytical summaries of other plays by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus. The third volume is devoted to Aristophanes and satyr plays, with extensive excerpts from the comedies. Aeschylus appears only through extracts and commentary—a deliberate choice by Brumoy, reflecting the difficulty of Aeschylean drama, which, in contrast to his peers, relies less on dramatic structure and more exclusively on language.
The work begins with three discourses that form an extended preface and study of Greek theatre: Sur le théâtre grec; Sur l'origine de la tragédie; Sur le parallèle du théâtre ancien et du moderne. Brumoy did not merely provide complete translations of seven major Greek plays; he included introductions, analyses, and, crucially, comparisons with other plays. Thus, Sophocles' Œdipe (acknowledged as the jewel of Greek theatre) is followed by discussions of Seneca’s and Corneille’s versions of the same subject. Moreover, Brumoy’s approach to translation was entirely original, driven by a clear conceptual vision and informed by the pedagogical purpose of his project.
In 1773, Sophocles’ tr