Commentary Mark Breen (1 results)

Hard Cover. Condition: Fine binding. First Edition. Folio. [4], 58, [4] pp., plates, maps, illus. Limited edition, one of 120 numbered copies. Letterpress printed on Barcham Green Boxley by Andrew Miller-Brown of Plowboy Press. The frontispiece is Durer's northern celestial map. There are 28 illustrations of the constellations from Caspar Vopel's 1534 woodcuts and eight full-page original digital prints of weather by Claire Van Vliet based on her pulp paintings. Additionally, there are numerous in-text illustrations, some mounted, some printed. This is sewn longstitch into pulp-painting covered boards by Katie MacGregor; pocket inside the front cover contains prospectus and Translator's Introduction and Notes. The book is wrapped in a linen-covered chemise lined with Durer's 1515 celestial maps, all housed in maple and birchwood slipcase with a lasercut title on the spine. A fine copy. Aratus was born in Soli in present day Turkey in about 315 BCE. Educated in Athens, he eventually made his way to the Macedonian court where it is believed he wrote the Phaenomena. It describes in verse the constellations, their rotation in the night sky throughout the year, various other natural signs, and their uses as a calendar and weather forecasting tool for farmers and sailors. For Aratus these sky signs, from the constellation Ursa Major to the smallest mouse tossing straw with its paws, represent a gift from Zeus to guide human endeavor if only we would take notice. The Phaenomena was enormously popular in its time and afterwards. It inspired many translations, some with a liberal dose of revisions and additions, as well as many commentaries starting in at least the second century BCE. This edition of the Phaenomena features a verse translation from the Greek by Stanley Lombardo and a new commentary for the modern reader by Mark Breen, senior meteorologist and director of the planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. And while it is easy to get caught up in the interesting particulars of the book and its history as well as the particulars of this edition, Van Vliet, Miller-Brown and their collaborators have created an edition that has reinvigorated this millennia-old navigational and practical treatise. This edition is full of wonder. MacGregor's pulp painted covers are haunting and exquisitely suited for the work. And further, the book, designed with a mind towards early scholarly works with Aratus's text surrounded by commentary and illustration, is a joy to leaf through, every page spread is visually engaging from the early section on the constellations to the section on weather that is elevated by Van Vliet's art. After 70 years of bookmaking, Van Vliet has not stopped pushing forward in her design and vision.