Divine Comedy roman

Description from Suntup Website

Suntup's edition of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is limited to two hundred eighty-one copies and is presented in three states: Numbered, Lettered & Roman Numeral. The edition measures 7¼” x 10¾” and is published in two volumes. Volume I includes the complete English translations of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso by Robert and Jean Hollander; and Volume II, a supplemental volume of over 1100 pages includes extensive and accessible introductions and generous commentaries that draw on centuries of scholarship as well as Robert Hollander’s own decades of teaching and research.

The text pages are set in the elegant Centaur type, a serif typeface by book and typeface designer Bruce Rogers, based on the Renaissance-period printing of Nicolas Jenson around 1470. Volume I is printed letterpress by Bradley Hutchinson in Austin, Texas on his Heidelberg Cylinder, and Volume II is printed by offset lithography. The letterpress volume is printed in two colors on the title, contents, cantica title and canto pages. The ornament appearing on these pages was designed for this edition by Jerry Kelly and was cut in metal and cast by Ed Rayer at Swamp Press. Interior design & typography is by Jerry Kelly and each state is printed on Mohawk Via Laid, mouldmade Hahnemühle Ingres and handmade Velké Losiny respectively.

Also included in Volume I are four tipped on illustrations by William Blake (1757–1827), and a portrait of Dante by Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572), as a frontispiece to Volume II. William Blake’s watercolor illustrations were commissioned in 1824 by John Linnell, friend and patron of his last years, three of which feature as the frontispiece to each cantica. Blake’s 1800 portrait of Dante serves as the frontispiece to the edition. All copies are signed by Robert Hollander.

The Roman Numeral edition is limited to five copies numbered I-V. It is bound in black leather with large onlays of smooth black leather, and textured black, brown and purple leathers. The black section is designed to represent Inferno, with the brown and purple sections representing Purgatorio and Paradiso respectively. The design is tooled using candle soot, palladium leaf and gold leaf. Part of the gold is surface gilt, a little known technique used to cover areas of leather in gold and other types of leaf. The top-edge is gilt with gold leaf and the head & tail bands are hand tied with brown, purple and gold silk, reflecting the colors of the onlays. The pastedowns are handmade decorative papers using acrylic paints and gold leaf. The enclosure is made with two rounded wooden spines covered in leather, with a pull-out tray containing the supplemental volume.

The natural deckle of the paper has been maintained at the fore- and lower-edge. The initial capitals of each cantica are beautifully hand painted and illuminated with raised gold leaf by renowned American calligrapher, Thomas Ingmire. The William Blake illustrations in this edition are printed giclée on Hahnemühle Bugra.

Volume I is printed letterpress on Velké Losiny handmade paper from the historic paper mill in the Czech Republic which was founded in the late 16th century, and Volume II is printed by offset lithography. Weighing 14 lb, this state is handbound by master bookbinder Peter Geraty and his team at Praxis Bindery in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Also check the other states of the book:

Numbered - Lettered