Die Odyssee: Neu ins Deutsch Uebertragen von Rudolf Alexander Schroeder
Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1907-1910.
First edition of this translation, limited issue in two volumes. Number 305 of 425 copies, of which 350 were for sale. [v], 179; [v], 170, [1] pp., printed in red and black on laid paper. Bound in publisher's patterned paper-covered boards over quarter vellum lettered in red and decorated in gilt. Near Fine with light foxing, toning, and soiling to covers, typical yellowing to vellum, and rubbing to corners with boards exposed. Small bumps to Volume I textblock corners resulting in corner creasing to ten or so leaves. Contents overall clean and bright; binding tight. Gill 308.
A beautiful production from the Leipzig publishing house Insel Verlag, founded by Alfred Walter Heymel and Rudolf Alexander Schroeder in 1901. The first director of operations was Rudolf von Poellnitz, who published well-designed books on wood-free India paper. The firm’s founders were friends of the diplomat and aesthete Count Harry von Kessler (Harry Graf Kessler), who was professionally connected with the ruler of Weimar, Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Kessler hatched a scheme to revitalize German book arts by convincing the Grand Duke to lend his name to series of literary classics, beautifully composed and bound and legibly printed in roman type, that would be published by Insel Verlag under Kessler's own guidance. The net profit from the “Grand Duke Wilhelm-Ernst Edition” would fund the Duke’s artistic endeavors in Weimar.
Kessler threw himself into the work with his usual intensity and persuaded Emery Walker to be his overseer. Walker had directed William Morris’ Kelmscott Press and later cofounded Doves Press, and Kessler wrote to a friend that he was “the very soul of what has been created in England in terms of printed books” and probably the greatest printing talent since the Renaissance. Walker brought Eric Gill to Kessler’s attention, and Gill was hired to cut the titles. Douglas Cockerell was also brought on board. Some German critics resented the number of Englishmen involved in the new edition, but the books sold well and were soon imitated by other German publishers.
Die Odyssee combined the artistic talents of Eric Gill and the French sculptor Aristide Maillol. Gill designed the capitals and titles, while Maillol designed the wood engraved vignettes. Kessler was a friend and admirer of both, and at one point he decided that Gill should move to France and apprentice to Maillol, even going as far as signing a three-year lease on a house in the Parisian suburbs for him. Gill obligingly traveled to Paris and met the sculptor, who was perfectly amiable but spoke no English. Gill spoke no French. Kessler translated for them and seemed to find nothing wrong with the arrangement, but when Gill returned to his hotel that night, he pondered three years in a dreary suburb and the loss of his work in England and decided to flee home on the night train: “If I delayed to see Kessler I should be trapped; for I couldn’t stand up against his overmastering confidence in his own schemes, or, for that matter, against my sense of his extraordinary kindness and generosity.”
Gill wrote in his autobiography that both men were “angelic” about it, and they continued to work together. Gill and Maillol famously collaborated on the edition of Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics published by Cranach Press, the fine press Kessler founded in 1913. His work at Insel had prepared him to make an even greater contribution to the art of book design, and his Hamlet (1929) is one of the finest books printed in the 20th century. The Grand Duke Wilhelm-Ernst Edition is a forerunner to that magnificence.
Price: $2,000