A fascinating history of the creatures that populate myths and folklore, John Cherry’s Mythical Beasts is beautifully reimagined as a Folio edition illustrated with archive images and Neil Packer’s striking new motifs and binding design.
The Divine Comedy
Illustrated by Neil Packer
Translated by Robin Kirkpatrick
Essay by Jhumpa Lahiri
An exceptional Folio edition celebrating more than 700 years of Dante’s monumental work, The Divine Comedy is illustrated by Neil Packer and includes an exclusive essay by Jhumpa Lahiri.
£100.00
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‘Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them. There is no third.’
- T. S. Eliot
Celebrating one of the greatest classics of world literature, this exquisite edition features Robin Kirkpatrick’s acclaimed translation, written in three-line rhyming stanzas to follow Dante’s terza rima scheme. From the earliest manuscripts, a tradition of illustration has surrounded The Divine Comedy and Neil Packer has created illustrations for all 100 cantos, drawing out details from the text. Packer’s work draws on diverse influences including English woodblock prints from the 1930s, North African designs and Art Deco, and it extends to exquisite hand-drawn lettering and a striking binding design. A specially commissioned essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri, completes this extraordinary edition. Written in 33 passages, mirroring the cantos, her thoughts range from film to numerology in an entertaining and absorbing piece.
Bound in printed and blocked textured paper
Set in Dante
648 pages
Printed 2-colour throughout, 3 full-page colour illustrations, 100 illustrations in total
Gold metallic printed endpapers
Ribbon marker
Printed and blocked slipcase
10˝ x 6¾˝
Notably written in Italian rather than Latin, Dante’s poem explores love, death and belief and has been hugely influential for centuries. Beatrice, symbol of divine grace, sends Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and up the slopes of Purgatory before she, a woman who in life the poet idolised, leads him into Heaven. His journey towards spiritual enlightenment is peopled with legendary and historical figures, but also with his contemporaries. Packed with symbolism, metaphor and allusion, in cantos written with unmatched poetic elegance, the influence of The Divine Comedy is ever-present, from music to art to literature and still resonates with readers after 700 years.
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