NONESUCH PRESS: HOMER (3 Ergebnisse)

Hardcover. Zustand: Good. Editions of 1450 and 1300 copies respectively. Set in Monotype Cochin and Jan van Krimpen's Antigone Greek types, printed by Enschede en Zonen on Pannekoek mould-made paper. Open capitals in red at the head of each book by van Krimpen, and the same type also in red on the title-pages. Ornaments designed by Rudolf Koch and engraved by Fritz Kredel. The large Greek warrior on the title-page of 'The Iliad' was designed by Berthold Wolpe. Uniformly bound in full tan niger morocco, top edge trimmed and gilt, marbled endpapers. Uneven staining to boards. A good set. The Greek text was printed from the standard Oxford Classical Texts edition by David B. Monro and Thomas W. Allen (first published in 1902 and 1908); Pepe's versions first appeared in 1715 and 1725-26. Advertised in the '1930 Prospectus' and announced for Christmas. In a long note David Garnett quoted Richard Garnett on Matthew Arnold's essay 'On translating Homer': 'with all the aid Mr Arnold has given other poets, Pope is not dethroned. A version which is in many respects a travesy of the Iliad remains the national version. Landor, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Mr Arnold himself, have imbued our literature with the Hellenic spirit and made it notorious to all that whatever else Pope may be, he is not a Greek. And yet his verses continue the possession of the nation, while the rest are only for scholars and amateurs . Pope's 'Iliad' indeed, neither should, nor can sink nto oblivion; it will always live as a great example of the energy and resource of the English language.'.

Hardcover. Zustand: Very Good. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Very Good. London, The Nonesuch Press, 1931 [first thus]. Large octavo, two volumes, [ii], 927, [1] (colophon) and [ii], 759, [1] (blank), [1] (colophon) pages with ornaments by Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel. Original full tan morocco ('Odyssey' a darker shade of brown); sides bordered with double fillets; top edges gilt, others uncut; marbled endpapers; 'The Iliad' a little mottled (due to the retention of the publisher's original glassine dustwrapper with paper flaps, the glassine now a little tanned with slight loss); 'Odyssey' slightly scratched and indented; an excellent set in the publisher's matching marbled slipcases (both showing trifling signs of wear). 'The Iliad' is number 860 of 1450 copies for sale; 'Odyssey' is inscribed 'out of series', of a total edition of 1300 copies for sale. Loosely inserted in 'The Iliad') is the single-sided information sheet by Francis Meynell on how to properly open the book. 'The Greek text of this edition is, by permission of the Delegates of the Oxford University Press, that of the Oxford Classical Texts. The English is printed from the first (1715) edition of Pope's Iliad' [and the (1725) edition of Pope's Odyssey] (from the colophons). [2 items].

First Nonesuch editions, The Iliad number 60 of 1,450 copies and The Odyssey number 664 of 1,300 copies. The former retains the publisher's inlaid slip "On First Looking into Pope's Homer" by Francis Meynell, who provides instruction on how to open the book so that the pages lie perfectly flat and how to separate the uncut pages using a paper knife. The Nonesuch Homer was one of the finest productions of the press and a shining example of the marriage of fine printing and commercial viability. "The design of this two-volume set represented a collaboration that included some of the best book designers of this era: the Dutchman Jan van Krimpen, who created the open capitals at the head of each book and set the Greek type; Rudolf Koch, a German designer who engraved some of the ornaments; and Koch's assistant Berthold Wolpe, who drew the figure of the Greek warrior for the title pages" (Eskilon, p. 154). The original Greek text is printed parallel to the English translation of Alexander Pope, whose Iliad and Odyssey were published within the years 1715 to 1720 and 1725 to 1726, respectively. Dreyfus 72 & 78. Stephen J. Eskilon, Graphic Design: A New History, 2019. 2 works, tall octavo. Title pages printed in red and black with engraved hoplite vignettes, vignette chapter headings printed in red and black. Original orange niger, spines lettered in gilt, raised bands ruled in blind, covers and turn-ins ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, fore and bottom edges uncut. Bindings slightly mottled and discoloured, as usual, Iliad spine sunned, gilt bright, contents clean. A very good set.