The Pastoral Loves of Daphnis & Chloe

This ancient Greek prose romance, probably of the second or third century, is set on Lesbos, where the foundlings Daphnis and Chloe are raised by shepherds and slowly discover sexual love while remaining ignorant of its name. Pirates, a would-be rival, a rich townsman's claim, and the cycle of the pastoral year interrupt them; a goatherd and an old cowherd offer comic instruction. The narrative is divided into four books that move from spring innocence to recognition of their true parentage. The work is a pastoral novel of delayed knowledge, not a collection of eclogues and not a myth of the gods alone.

Quarter bound in off-white parchment with pale blue linen boards and gilt spine titling. Cream endpapers. Glassine dust-jacket. Cream slipcase with paper illustrated title label on front. The first Folio Society book to be issued in a slipcase.