The Comedies of Terence, translated by George Colman, 1802 edition printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co., Temple of the Muses, London.

Written by Publius Terentius Afer. 1802 edition. Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co., Temple of the Muses, London.

Publius Teretius Afer, or Terence, as we know him, was a 2nd century Roman playwright who died young but whose work endured in the Western literary canon through the 19th C.

Almost as interesting is the book's publisher, James Lackington, founder of bookseller Lackington, Allen and Co. of London. Lackington (1746 - 1815), one of 11 children of a Wellington shoemaker and a homemaker, began selling pies on the street at age 10 to help support his family. Later, as a cobbler's apprentice, young James had an epiphany: "To my great mortification, I could not read." Through effort and imagination, he learned to read and write, and to sell books. From his first small bookstall, Lackington learned how to buy books on the cheap - large lots, writers' manuscripts, libraries, remainders, and reprints - and sell them cheap. Eventually he became a publisher of inexpensive classics and popular literature. He proudly touted his business as "The Cheapest Bookstore in the World!" He built the Temple of the Muses in Covent Garden into the Barnes & Noble of its day, ultimately shelving 500,000 books.

Lackington proudly commissioned the printing of this cheaply bound letterpress volume of Terence's plays in 1802 to make classics accessible to people of modest means.

Inscription on front fly leaf: "Bought in Hemel-Hempsted: Nov, 1842."

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Condition: Very Good. Lacks dust jacket, as issued. Brown paper cover boards: Front cover is loose; moderate wear front and back; small light stain on the back cover; moderate wear along upper edges, heavier wear to the fore edges and bottom; corners are bumped; the paper on the spine's backstrip is flaking. Text block is strong and sturdy. Deckled on fore edges and lower edges. Previous owner's small round label with initials on front paste-down. Previous owner's name is stamped on the front paste-down, front fly leaves, title page, and back fly leaf and paste-down. Recycled rag paper pages with small amount of foxing scattered through the book are otherwise clean, undamaged, and complete.