About this Item
Hardcover. One 500 copies offered for sale of 530 copies of this monumental edition of Homer's Odyssey. The book was printed at the works of Emery Walker, Ltd., under the supervision of Bruce Rogers. Walker and Rogers were two of the most influential figures in the world of books, design, and printing in the late 19th and early 20th century. Emery Walker (1851-1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organizations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Guild, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. He also was a key figure in the world of design, typography and printing, in the teaching and dissemination of those crafts, and in the cultural landscape of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. Bruce Rogers (1870 1957) was an American typographer and type designer, acclaimed by some as among the greatest book designers of the twentieth century. Rogers was known for his "allusive" typography, rejecting modernism, seldom using asymmetrical arrangements, rarely using sans serif type faces, often favoring faces such as Bell (at the time known only as Brimmer), Caslon, his own Montaigne, a Jensonian precursor to his masterpiece of type design Centaur. His books can fetch high sums at auction. [Wikipedia] In his book, "Paragraphs on Printing" on pages 148-160, Rogers recounted the four year creation of the Odyssey, from his asking Lawrence to translate the work, to creating the perfect paper and making ink, and the special gold and seven-step printing operation of the rondels. It was widely recognized that Rogers had created a masterpiece (see Blumenthal, Art of the Printed Book). Rogers had been inspired by his reading of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" to persuade Lawrence to undertake this new translation. Lawrence began his work in 1928, and after some years produced a translation of the classic using his personal experience in the fog of war as well as faithfulness to the text as his guidelines. Bound in full black Niger morocco with gilt toes and lettering on the spine in gold. Printed on special paper made by J. Barcham Greem & Son in 16-point Monotype Centaur. There are 26 decorations of Homeric figures from Greek vase-paintings that are printed in black on roundels of gold leaf that at the head of each Book and on the title page. There is a two inch long ink line on the front free endpaper and the usual discoloration from the leather turns. Otherwise a fine copy. Accompanied by the prospectus. Not in original slipcase. Now housed in a very good fleece lined black clamshell box with a leather spine and black cloth covers. With a bit of scuffing and signs of handling. With an unusual Velcro closure. Measures 8.25 - 11.5 inches. Unpaginated [358 pages]. PRI/092724.
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