BUCHANANO [ BUCHANAN ], George,

Psalmorum Davidis paraphrasis poetica, nunc primum edita, authore Georgio Buchanano ... Eiusdem Davidus Psalmi aliquot a Th. B.V. versi. Psalmi aliquot in versus ite Graecos nuper a diversis translati

      Argentorati [Strasbourg]: Excudebat Josias Riheliu First edition. 16mo. 13.8cm x 8cm x 3cm. [24pp.]/pp.352 . A very good contemporary full calf binding. Professionally rebacked. Spine with 4 raised bands and red leather title label. Title in red & black with a cut of Moses kneeling before God. Outer edge carefully repaired (using archival standard materials, and without loss of text). Light staining to a few pages, but overall pages are clean with good margins. Mostly Latin text except for Greek text from pp.303 - 352. Printers details from colophon at end of text on p.352 . A well preserved book similar to Adams 1457 ( dated 1573). ** George Buchanan (1506-1582), came from a family of five sons and three daughters brought up by their widowed mother Agnes Heriot. While in Paris Buchanan wrote a satire against Cardinal Beaton, "Franciscantis" (published 1567) which caused him to be denounced as a heretic. He escaped to England and then to Bordeaux, where he taught until 1547. He then went to teach at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, was condemned by the Inquisition, and while in prison translated the Psalms into Latin. He was released in 1553, and was in France and Italy until 1561, when he returned to Scotland and became tutor to Mary, Queen of Scots. He joined the newly-formed General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in 1566 he was appointed Principal of St Leonard's College in St Andrews, but the murder of Lord Darnley in the following year brought his friendship with Mary to an end. He became an active opponent of the Queen, and produced pamphlets against her. In 1567 he became Moderator of the General Assembly, and he was made tutor to the young James VI. His accusations against Mary were published as "De Maria Scotorum Regina" (1571), translated as "Ane Detectioun of the Duings of Mary Quene". Buchanan remained active in politics and the church until his death ten years later. He is buried in Greyfriars' Churchyard in Edinburgh, and is remembered as one of the greatest Latinists of his age. His output, nearly all in Latin, includes several plays and a 20-volume history of Scotland. See Andrew Crummey website.