The Fragments of Parmenides & an English Translation by Robert Bringhurst
Berkeley, CA: Editions Koch, 2003. Full Leather. Fine binding. Item #10427
Folio. [44] pp., frontis, plates. Limited edition, one of 120 copies, this copy out of series; there are also 26 lettered, deluxe copies with a suite of 10 engravings. All are signed by Bringhurst, Wagener, and Peter Koch at the colophon. Bound by Camille Botelho in black box calf with inlays and onlays of dyed calf, vinyl snakeskin, painted paper mylar laminates, and a porcupine quill; hand embroidered endbands; vinyl snakeskin doublures. A fine copy in clamshell box.
True to form, Peter Koch has produced a marvelous edition of what remains of Parmenides's poem, "On Nature." The fragments of the poem are rendered in this opposite page, bilingual edition with the Greek on the left and Bringhurst's English translation on the right. The poetry is brilliantly accompanied by Wagner's striking engravings, a frontispiece and 4 additional wood engravings in red and orange.
Given it survives only in fragments, there is some debate as to the "meaning" of the symbolism of Parmenides's poem, making it a work ripe for interpretation. But at base, his view of reality is one of stasis, unchangeable. And while that enduring Greek logic marks the work, Wagener introduces remarkably abstract and kinetic illustrations printed in an urgent deep red and orange—projecting anything but stasis. It is the discord between the logical understanding or reality and the emotional understanding of it that spoke to Botelho and informed her design of this incredible binding. She writes: "In the design I thought of Parmenides looking out past shadowy arches from within a dark room to find total chaos beyond. The curve of the Mylar inlay and the curve of the porcupine quill mimic a column, marking a threshold beyond which is uncontrolled noise and movement and mess. I wanted the disparity between the smoothness of the box calf and the chaos of the inlays and yellow foiling to be a comment on how frightening examining one's reality can be." Magnificently achieved, Botelho has created an exceptional binding, that bridges Parmenides and Wagener, giving voice to the paradox she sees in this metaphysical conversation on the nature of reality.
Price: $6,000.00