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The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Balthasar Gracian, tr. by Joseph Jacobs, [1892], at sacred-texts.com
THE best bibliographical account of Gracian's works is that of Backer, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1869, sub voce. I have shortened the descriptions of the translations, etc., of the other works of Gracian, adding a few items from the British Museum Catalogue and other sources. The Oráculo Manual I have treated separately and more fully.
1. El Heroe de Lorenço Gracian Infanzon. Dedicado al Rey N.S. En Huesca por Juan Noguès, 1637, 8vo.
French translation (1) by Gervais, médecin du roy, Paris, 1645; reprinted Amsterdam, 1659; (2) by P. de Courbeville, Paris, 1725.
English translation (1) by Sir J. Skeffington, Lond. 1652; (2) from Courbeville's by a "gentleman of Oxford," Lond. 1726.]
2. El politico Don Ferdinando el católico de Lorenzo Gracian. Al excelentísimo Señor Duque de Nochera. En Zaragoza, 1640, 12°.
French translation (1) by M. de S. (Silhouette, Chancellor of the Duc d’Orleans), Paris, 1720; reprinted 1730, and Amsterdam, 1731; (2) by P. de Courbeville, 1732, 120.
German translation by D. G. von Lohenstein.]
3. Agudeza y Acte de Ingenio en que se explican todos los modos y diferencias de conceptos. Madrid, 1642, 8vo.
Italian translation by a Genoese who passed it off as his own (Journ. des Savants, 1696, p. 333).]
4. El Discreto. Dedicado al serenísimo Señor Don Baltasar Carlos de Austria. En Huesca por Juan Nogues, 1645, 8vo.
French translation by De Courbeville; 2nd ed. Rotterdam, 1729.
English, "The Compleat Gentleman," by T. Salkeld 2nd ed. London, 1730; 3rd, Dublin, 1760.
German, Der Vollkommene Menach. Augsburg, 1729, 8vo, from the French.
Italian, L’Uomo Universale. Venice, 1725, from the French.
Polish by Brzostowski. Wilna, 1762, from the French.]
5. El Criticon. Primera Parte en la Primavera de la Niñez y en el Estio de la Juventad. En Madrid, 1650, 8vo—Segunda Parte Juyziosa y cortesana Filosofia en el Otoño de la Varonil Edad. En Huesca, 1653, 8vo—Tercera Parte en el Invierno de la Vejez. En Huesca, 1653, 8vo.
English, Pt. I., by P. Rycaut. Lond. 1681.
French translation by Maunony. Paris, 1696-1708, 12°. Reprinted at La Hague, 1708, 1723, 1734; Rouen, 1709; Geneva, 1725.
Italian, by G. P. Cattaneo. Venice, 1685, 1698, 1709, 1720, 1745.
Dutch, by M. Smallegange. ’S Gravenhage, 1691, 120.
German, by C. Gottschling. Frankfurt, 1710; Halle, 1721.]
6. Oráculo Manual. See infra B.
7. El Comulgador: varias meditaciones para . . . la sacrada communion. Madrid, 1655, 12°.
English translation by M. Monteiro, 1876, 8vo.
French, by Amelot de la Houssaie. Paris, 1693, 8vo.
Italian, by Castro and Inviziati.
German, anon. Frankfort, 1734, 8vo; reprinted Vienna, 1738; and Nuremberg, 1751, with Appendix by W. Reithmeier, 1847.
Latin, anon. Munster, 1750-52, 120.]
8. Obras de Lorenzo Gracian. Amberes, 1652, 4to.
4to; Amberes, 1669, 4to; Madrid, 1674, 4to; Barcelona, 1700, 4to (with four idylls Selvas de año); Amberes, 1702, 4to, 1723, 4to; Madrid, 1720, 4to; Barcelona, 1734, 4to, 1748, 4to, 1757, 4to; Madrid 1773, 4to all in two vols.
Latassa also mentions various poems and letters which are scattered about, some in MS. For El Varon Atento and El Galante see supra p. xxii.
Early Spanish Bibliography is in a very bad state. One difficulty is that each of the smaller kingdoms of Spain seems to have had the right to reprint books published in any other division. We find this difficulty with the Editio Princeps of the Oráculo Manual. Latassa states that it was first published in Huesca, Aragon, in 1647, "Por Juan Nogues" (like most of Gracian's works). No copy of this edition is known to exist in any of the great libraries of Spain or other parts of Europe, and the earliest known is that contained in the British Museum with the following title:—
But in the Censor's licence to this there is a distinct reference to a previous edition with which it is said to correspond ["coresponde con el antes impresso . . . que otras vezes ha sido impresso "]. This confirms Latassa's date of 1647 for the ED. PR. But this makes it difficult to understand Lastanosa's reference to the twelve books of Gracian's, of which the Oráculo was the quintessence.
Four only had been published by that time, and the two unpublished would make up only half a dozen. We must therefore leave the date of the ED. PR. a variable between 1647 and 1653, to be fixed by the future Spanish Lowndes or Hazlitt.
The Oráculo was reprinted at Amsterdam 1659, and henceforth it appeared in all the editions of the Obras. It is curious that it has never been reprinted separately in modern times in Spain, and can only be obtained in Biblioteca de autores españoles, tomo lxv. It has, however, been a book more honoured abroad than in its own country, as the following list of Translations, taken mainly from Grisebach and the British Museum Catalogue, will show
1. Oracolo manuale, e Arte di Prudenza / Cavata dagl’ Aforismi, che si discorrono nell’ Opre di Lorenzo Gratiano / Mandalo in Luce D. Vincenzo Giovanni de Lastanosa. Diretto alla Nobiltá Venetiana e dedicato all’ Illustr. & Eccellentiss. Sig. Leonardo Pesaro . . . In Venetia MDCLXXIX.
2. Huomo di Corte nuovamente tradotto dall’ Abbate Francesa Tosques. Roma, 1698.
1. L’homme de cour de Baltasar Gracian. Traduit & commenté par le Sieur Amelot de la Houssaie, cidevant Secrétaire de l’Ambassade de France à Venise. Paris, 1684.
2. Maximes de Baltazar Gracien, traduites de l’Espagnol [par J. de Courbeville]. Paris, 1730.
1. The / Courtier's / Oracle; / or the / Art of Prudence / . . . Written originally in Spanish / And now done into English. London, 1694.
2. The Art of Prudence; or a Companion for a Man of Sense. Made English . . and illustrated with the Sieur Amelot de la Houssaie's notes, by Mr. Savage. London, 1702.
1. Balthas. Graciani, Hispani, Aulicus sive de prudentia civili et maxime aulica liber singularis olim hispanice conscriptus, postes et Gallice, Italice, Germanice editus, nunc ex Ameloti versione Latine redditus . . . Franc. Glarianus Meldenus, Constantiensis, recensuit, latine vertit . . . et notis illustravit. Accessit Joh. Gottl. Heineccii J.C. praefatio. Francofurti ad Viadrum MDCCXXXI.
2. Hominis Aulici notum Graciani oraculum prudentiae, depromptum in sententiarum politicarum centurias III . . . Latinorum lingua loquens per interpretem P. A. Ulrich. 1734.
1. Bölts és figyelmetes udvari ember. Irta Spányol nyelven Grátzian B. Forditotta Németbül Faludi F. . . . Posonyban, 1770, 1771.
2. Udvari Kátó Vagy is Grátzián B. nak Faludi F. által Magyarra forditatott CCC Makszimai . . . Györölt, 1790.
Baltazar Gracyan doskonalacy dworskiego człowjeka przez 300 maxym . . . Krakow, 1802.
1. L’Homme de cour Oder der heutige politische Welt- und Staats-Weife / fürgestellet von Balthasar Gracian, Hispanieren Und wegen seiner hohen Würde in unsre hochteutche Sprache übersetzet anitzo aus dem Original vermehret, und zum Undernmahl herausgegeben von Joh Leonhard Sauter, J. U. D. Franctfurth und Leipzig, 1687.
[Pp. CXVIII, 775, 240.]
2. Balthasar Gracian's Homme de Cour, oder: Kluger Hof- und Weltmann, nach Mr. Amelot de la Houssaie seiner französischen Version, in’s Teutsche übersetzet von Selintes [= C. Weissbach]. Nebst Herrn C. Thomasii judicio vom Gracian. Augsburg, 1711.
3. Balthasar Gracians Oracul; d. i. Regeln der Klugheit. Aus dem Spanischen von A. F. Müller. 2 Bände. Leipzig, 1715-1717.
4. Uomo di corte oder fluger Hof- und Weltmann. Nach der Italienischen Uebersetzung ins Deutsche übersetzt [von Christoph Heinrich Freisleben]. Ultenburg, 1723.
5. Die Kunst zu leben; vortressliche Regeln eines alten Weltmannes fürs menschliche leben. Nach Balthasar Gracian [von K. H. Heydenreich], Leipzig, 1786.
6. Der Mann von Welt, eingeweiht in die Geheimnisse der Lebensflugheit, ein nach Balthasar Gracian frei bearbeitetes vollständig hinterlassenes Manuscript [von K. H. Heydenreich], Leipzig, Martini, 1803.
7. Dos schwarze Buch oder Lehren der Lebensweisheit Gracian's . . . 1826.
8. Männerschule von B. Gracian. Aus dem Spanischen übersetzt von Fr. Kölle. Stuttgart, 1838.
9. Balthasar Gracian's Handorafel und Kunst der Weltlugheit, treu und forgfältig übersetzt von Arthur Schopenhauer. Nachgelassenes, Leipzig, 1861.
De Konst der Wysheit getrokken ujt de Spaensche van Gracian en nu vertaalt door M. Smallegange In's Gravenhage, MDCXCVI.
