Michael Taylor’s translation of Book I of the Odes was published in 1992 by preeminent San Francisco printer and book designer Jack Stauffacher. Arion Press has endeavored to continue the series with the publication of Book II featuring the work of photographer Dennis Letbetter, who collaborated with Stauffacher for over 30 years.

Frequently translated, often weakened, the Odes have a reputation for difficulty and have challenged every translator who sought to bridge the distance between the originals and a language very different from anything the poet spoke. The poems represent Horace at his best: highly compressed, full of energy and life, demonstrating unsparing observations of his contemporaries. Michael Taylor’s new translations respond to this vitality, and reach for the vibrancy behind the classical facade.

Dennis Letbetter began several photographic series at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach after months of studying the ebb and flow of tides, and the flora and fauna found there. Among these, the images of sea stones were the most abstract and beguiling. Letbetter’s photographs venture comfortably far from literal illustration, and when paired with Taylor’s translations these runes invite new interpretations for old words.

The Deluxe edition is accompanied by a limited-edition gelatin silver print of a sea stone image not included in the book. The archivally processed photograph is hand-printed and signed by Dennis Letbetter and suitable for framing.

Production Details

• Limited edition of 150 numbered copies for sale
  Deluxe edition of 30 numbererd copies for sale, accompanied by a limited-edition photograph, 16 x 20 inches

• Quarto, 10-⅛ by 6-¾ inches, 112 pages

• Limited edition bound in linen cloth over boards, in Tyrian purple cardstock chemise
  Deluxe edition hand-sewn in handmade Cave paper wrapper, in clamshell box

• Arion Press publication # 116, 2019

A limited number of copies are available in sheets (unbound) for bookbinders at a 15% discount.

Read the full prospectus here.