Parmenides; translated by Robert Bringhurst; illustrated by Richard Wagener.
Berkeley, California: Editions Koch, 2004

The text is comprised of all twenty Greek fragments, varying in length from a only few words to 66 hexameters, of a poem composed by Parmenides almost 2,500 years ago in southern Italy. For this project, Peter Koch commissioned Dan Carr to create a new typeface that balanced the lyricism and movement of the handwritten poem and the formality of a carefully-made inscription. Parmenides Greek, the foundry face designed, cut, and cast by Carr at the Golgonooza Letter Foundry, is accompanied by Diogenes Greek, a digital face designed by Christopher Stinehour. Printed in Greek on the left with the translation by Bringhurst on the facing page. Greek text handset in Parmenides Greek at the press by Richard Seibert, Robert Bringhurst, and Peter Koch; English text set in Monotype Dante at the Golgonooza Letter Foundry; cover text, printed in red and black, set in Diogenes Greek. 5 wood engravings that boldly accent the text are hand-printed by Wagener in vibrant red, fiery orange and velvety black on Zerkall mill paper. 120 numbered copies, bound by Peggy Gotthold at Foolscap Press in quarter leather and Hahnemühle Bugra paper, are enclosed in a case covered in gold Japanese silk. 26 lettered copies, bound in full leather by Daniel Kelm and enclosed in a drop-back box, are accompanied by a suite of 10 wood engravings signed by Richard Wagener and a broadside specimen sheet for each of the typefaces made for this edition. Afterword by Bringhurst set in special digital Dante, New Hellenic Greek, and Lazurski Cyrillic, and printed from polymer plates. Signed by Koch, Wagener, and Bringhurst.

Book; 64 pp.    9.75 x 16.25 inches    146 copies.       $inquire

Lettered edition, with additional suite of prints:  $inquire

Numbered edition 1-120:  $inquire