‎"SENECA, L.A.‎
‎Den Vitberømte oc Nafnkundige Philosophi eller Viszdoms-Elskeris Skrifter...Nu paa voris danske Maal oversat...(af Birgitte Thott).‎

‎Sorøe, Georg Hantsch, 1658. Folio. Lidt senere hldrbd. Rig rygforgyldning. Forgyldt skindtitel på ryg. Øverste kapitæl slidt. Hjørner stødte. Bindet lettere slidt. Marmoreret snit. Kobberstukket frontispiece. (40),183,(2),324,374,(2) pp. Stort udfoldeligt kobberstukket portræt af Birgitte Thott, stukket af Haelwegh efter maleri af Wuchters. Lettere kantflosning på titelbladet. Ydre margin på de første blade lidt brunede. Enkelte ormehuller på nogle blade i øverste margin. Få spredte brunpletter. Gennemgående ren og trykt på godt papir.‎

Reference : 54631

‎First edition of the groundbreaking first translation of Seneca into Danish - being the first complete translation of a classical author in Danish, the first proper translation of a classical work into Danish, and the first printed piece of feminism in Denmark. This magnificent work was done by the great Birgitte (also known as Bridge Thott (1610-1662), who is famous world-wide, not only for being arguably the most important translator of classical works into Danish, but also for being the first female translator in Danmark, the first Danish feminist and one of the first defenders of women's rights in Scandinavia. This, her magnum opus, her enormous 1.000-page translation of the Latin moral philosopher Seneca was the very first of its kind. Up until Thott's great work, the Danish population had nothing but small pieces of clumsy translations of a few classical authors available in their mother tongue, and Thott's translations opened up a new era - it introduced a new cultural and religious conversation to the Danish audience and actually altered the language significantly, introducing many new words to Danish and greatly enriching the language. Together with Christian Pedersen's translation of the Bible and Anders Sørensen Vedel's translation of Saxo, Birgitte Thott's translation of Seneca came to define the Danish language from the 17th century and onwards. The work is magnificently printed and is also considered of monumental value from a book printing perspective. It is not only monumental in size and beautiful in type-setting, it is also equipped with wonderful woodcut initials, an engraved portrait of Birgitte Thott and a wonderful engraved frontispiece. Birgitte Thott's name is actually not mentioned on the title-page, but she is shown as Minerva wearing a helmet at the top of the frontispiece. There are 12 laudatory poems in Latin, German, and Danish, clearly exposing Thott's importance among her contemporaries. The work is dedicated to ""the praiseworthy woman"" - being the woman in general - to all women, who appreciate virtue, sense, and learning.Thott had a clear ambition with the work, namely to give women specifically, only very few of which had the opportunity to learn Latin, access to the thoughts of the great stoic author of the 1st century. Even if women are not exposed to learning other languages, they should have access to literary works from other cultures via translation. She protested unambiguously against the dominating tendency of considering learning harmful for women and she demonstrated how ignorance led to moral depravity. Thus, the present work is without doubt the most important work in the history of Danish feminism and constitutes the first printed piece of feminism in the country. Being one of the first defenders of Women's rights in Scandinavia, she was part of a rather small European network of learned women, including Christina Queen of Sweden, the French Marie le Jars du Gournay, the English Bathsua Makin, the Irish Dorothea Moore (in Ireland), and the Dutch Anna Maria van Schurman (who wrote one of the laudatory letters for the Seneca-translation). With her present magnum opus, her monumental translation of Seneca, ""Thott combined her classical erudition and translation with a role as an active champion of women's rights"" (Rosie Wyles et. Al. edt.: Women Classical Scholars..., pp. 75-76) and completely altered both classical scholarship in Denmark, the view of women in Danish society, and the Danish language. .Bibl. Dan. IV,132. - Thesaurus II,679.‎