PLATO

[Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and translator of Plato.] Two Autograph Letters Signed, one to ‘Bramston’ and the other to '[Shairp? Sherif?]'.

Author: 
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893), Master of Balliol College, Oxford, translator of Plato and close friend of Florence Nightingale and contemporary of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ('Lewis Carroll')
Publication details: 
First letter, to Bramston, ‘Aug. 21 [no year, on paper watermarked 1864] / Tummil Bridge [i.e. Tummell Bridge, Pitlochry]’, on embossed letterhead of ‘COLL DE BALL / OXON’. Second letter, no date or page.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters signed ‘B Jowett’. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed to ‘My dear Bramston’. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, but with discoloration (probably deliberate, since he is writing from Scotland) to letterhead. Strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded for postage. Begins by asking for his thanks, and those of ‘Lord Kerry’ (his student, see Abbott’s ‘Life and Letters’), to be sent to ‘Captain Egerton for his kind and hospitable invitation’.

[Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and editor of Plato.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Lucas’ [the future Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas], regarding tutoring Lord Herbrand Russell [the future Duke of Bedford].

Author: 
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893), Master of Balliol College, Oxford, editor of Plato, theologian and reforming university administrator [Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas; Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford]
Publication details: 
29 March 1878; Balliol College [Oxford].
£60.00

The 1880 'Balliol Masque' indicates Jowett's standing, and the pronunciation of his name: 'First come I. My name is Jowett. | There's no knowledge but I know it. | I am Master of this College, | What I don't know isn't knowledge.' See Jowett’s entry, and those of Lucas and Russell, in the Oxford DNB, which states regarding Jowett that by the end of his life he had become ‘synonymous with Balliol, which he turned into the leading college in the first university in the United Kingdom at the height of its world power’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. Folded twice.

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