Dante's Inferno. Translations by Twenty Contemporary Poets
Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1993. Signed Limited Edition. Folio, publisher's black morocco over crimson silk, spine gilt and blindstamped, black endpapers, handmade paper, deckled fore-edge, original black cloth slipcase.
Limited edition of Dante’s masterpiece, translated by twenty contemporary poets, signed by each, with a signed etching by Francesco Clemente. Edited and published by Daniel Halpern of Ecco Press, this collaborative version of the Inferno, intended in his words to put a sacred text "back into the hands of the keepers of language," features each poet’s interpretation of his or her assigned canto distinctively reproduced in a variety of styles (terza rima, blank and free verse, rhythmic prose, and improvised rhyme schemes. Selected for the caliber of their own work rather than their knowledge of the Italian language or translation, contributors include Seamus Heaney, Richard Howard, Amy Clampitt, Jorie Graham, Carolyn Forche, Sharon Olds, Charles Wright, C. K. Williams, Robert Pinsky, W.S. Merwin, Robert Haas, and others. With a loose signed etching by Italian artist Franceso Clemente, an introduction by poet James Merrill, and an afterword by American historian Guiseppe Mazzotta. Number 18 of 125 copies signed by all twenty poets on the colophon and with the original etching, from a total limitation of 145. Book and etching fine; original slipcase with some sunning and rubbing. Item #11832
$3,500.00