Selected Poems
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1995. Number 200 of 250 numbered copies, with 26 lettered copies hors de commerce. It is the forty-seventh publication of the Arion Press and rather scarce with no copies in commerce. The book shares characteristics with the sixth publication of the press, Moby-Dick, by the same author, of 1979, in that the same typeface is used, Goudy Modern ... it is printed on the same paper, which was made for that edition by hand to the specifications of the press at the Barcham Green Mill in England and bears watermarks of the mill, the press, and of a sperm whale; and the same artist, Barry Moser, has engraved a new portrait of Herman Melville on Resingrave for the frontispiece. The text type was composed and cast on the Monotype by Mackenzie & Harris. The display type is Goudy Open and was set by hand. The book was designed and produced by Andrew Hoyem and conceived in many ways as a companion to the 1979 Moby Dick, one of the most important press books of the twentieth century." [from the Prospectus]. This book was suggested to Hoyem by the renowned scholar of poetry, Helen Vendler. She regarded Melville as among the greatest American poets of the 19th century and was eager to make a selection that would show the variety of his best poetry. Despite the importance attached to his poems today by scholars and critics, seldom did readers have any appreciation for Melville the poet.
Bound in bright blue cloth with darker blue dyed leather goatrskin bands left over from the earlier Moby Dick. The bands run across the top and bottom edges of the book with title and author in silver foil. Printed on octavo sized paper of 6.75 x 9 7/8 inches using Goudy Modern type in a smaller point size than the 1979 volume. Top page edges trimmed, while the fore-edge and bottom edges are untrimmed. The signatures were folded by hand and each copy was sewn by hand with linen thread over linen tapes. Housed in a blue cloth slipcase with blue goatskin title label to spine. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. Measures 7 x 10 inches. 156 numbered pages. PRI/110424. Fine.
Item #37584
Price: $800.00