John Pentland Mahaffy

The classical scholar J. P. Mahaffy (1839–1919) is known equally for his work on Greek texts and Egyptian papyri (several of his books are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and spent the rest of his working life there, as a fellow, and ultimately as provost from 1914 until his death. This light-hearted book was published in 1887, and the 1888 second edition, with Mahaffy's responses to his critics in the preface, is reissued here. His approach is to analyse the art of conversation in the same way that a classical scholar would analyse the art of rhetoric, discussing theoretical models as well as taking examples from history and from his own social life. However, after considering all aspects of conversation, including its universality and necessity, Mahaffy concludes that 'the perfect practice of it is a mystery, which defies analysis'.

History of Rome - and of the Roman people is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1883. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The classical scholar J. P. Mahaffy (1839–1919) is known equally for his work on Greek texts and Egyptian papyri (his edition of The Flinders Petrie Papyri is reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin and spent the rest of his working life there, as a fellow, and ultimately as provost from 1914 until his death. This work, in which Mahaffy records his impressions of his first visit to Greece, was published in 1876. Though it is not uncritical ('Nothing is more melancholy and more disappointing than the first view of the Athenian museums'), his account of the famous Greek sites of Attica, Thebes, Delphi and the Peloponnese is lively and observant, and his preface strongly argues that Greece, at a time of turmoil in Europe, was deserving of greater support from the western powers. The book will be of interest to scholars and travellers alike.