Medieval Latin Lyrics: David R. Godine

David R. Godine is a trade publisher, but prior to Mr. Godine's retirement in 2019, he published a number of books in the fine press tradition and these are well worth a place in your collection. This is one of them.

Medieval Latin Lyrics. Translated and Introduced by Brian Stock. Original woodcuts by Fritz Kredel. Boston: David R. Godine Publisher, 1971. 77 p.; 6-7/8 x 10-5/8 in. Letterpress printed using Centaur & Arrighi types on two different papers.

Total edition of 4000 copies published in three versions:
1. The trade edition of 2750 copies printed on Mohawk vellum laid paper. Bound with rust colored linen spine and green paper over boards with letterpress printed d/j with a large Kredel woodcut printed in red, text in black; spine titling in gilt.

2. 1200 copies numbered 1-1200 printed on a specially made English rag laid paper. Green cloth backed patterned paper covered boards, spine titling in gilt; slipcase with cloth edges and printed paper sides.

3. 50 deluxe copies numbered I-L bound in quarter leather.

I have a copy of both #1 and #2, but do not have the quarter leather issue, of which I have seen very few offered for sale over the years. My copy of #2 is un-numbered, apparently a remainder.
 The Mohawk paper is a nice paper, white with a pleasing texture. The English rag has a softer texture and is slightly cream-colored, much nicer. Both papers show a significant, but not excessive, amount of bite in the printing. You can see it and feel it.
 Introduction by Mr. Stock is very informative without being pedantic. The lyrics are printed en face with the Latin on the left and the English translation on the right. Some of the lyrics are rather racy and the woodcuts are very period and apropos.
 A nice typographic touch is setting the Latin title in Arrighi and the text in Centaur while the English title is in Centaur with the text in Arrighi.

This book deserves a place in any fine press collection. Even the trade edition is worthy, but the numbered & slipcased issue is better. Obviously, if you can find one, the deluxe issue would be the prime target here. Even Sophie Schneideman has a copy of the numbered/slipcased issue in stock.

A Note on the Images: I regret that the bite doesn't show very well in these scans, but it is definitely noticeable.

THE TRADE EDITION:

The dust jacket



The title page





THE NUMBERED EDITION IN SLIPCASE:

The slipcase



The binding

Interior







EDITED TO CORRECT FALSE INFORMATION REGARDING MR. GODINE'S DEATH, WHICH HAS NOT YET OCCURRED.

Some of the Godine fine press editions are gorgeous, as that example amply shows. Thank you for highlighting this piece!

Wonderful! Thanks very much for sharing this. I immediately had to hunt down a copy. Several are available in the UK, but being in the US presents a shipping problem at the moment. Happily I found a deluxe edition in Canada at a great price. Listed as fine but no photos, so a bit of a pig in a poke, but worth the gamble. Grabbed a couple other titles from the seller as well. Looking forward to this one, thanks again mate!

EDIT: And the seller cancelled my order, as they don't ship to the US currently due to tariffs. Yay us.

>3 Shadekeep: His loss.

Splendid book with an equally splendid pictorial & write-up. I think Godine really stumbled onto a nicely measured place in the fine press market - with their great big batches of production still retaining some of the hallmarks of fine craftsmanship typically found in much smaller runs. Of note and in similar vein is their "Medieval Bestiary" title with outstanding illustrations by Gillian Tyler. Here is one of their limited runs of 50 of Latin Lyrics - I cannot remember now what circumstances I found this but I do recall thinking that even with some spine sunning - "not enough money is being spent for this"

>5 dotman: Ooooh. I want!

Received my copy, t'is a nice book indeed. Still has the "complementary copy" card from the printer laid in, too. Thanks again for the recommendation!

>7 Shadekeep: Ye be most welcome!

>5 dotman: This gets curiouser and curiouser. There's a copy of this deluxe edition for sale that is unnumbered and signed by the artist, Fritz Kredel, but not Mr. Stock. It was supposed to have been signed by both of them according to the colophon. And this copy is also in a variant binding of orange morocco spine with marbled paper sides.

>1 Glacierman: Could I trouble you to try again with the photos? I'm in the UK and it says 'Content Not Viewable in Your Region'. I think you found a way around that elsewhere. I'm sure I could view them when you first posted this, because I actually got in touch with Sophie Schneidemann after this post to order the copy you mentioned. She couldn't find it, and was very apologetic!

Thank you.

>10 Opinacus: Fixed.

I must admit you've inspired me, just picked up a copy of the numbered edition that will hopefully arrive next week.

>11 Glacierman: much obliged

>1 Glacierman: "prior to Mr. Godine's death in 2017" Godine is still alive, not sure where you heard he passed. Part of his collection is going to auction at Bonhams soon. Or maybe Freeman. I can't remember what the bookseller told me but keep an eye out. Going to be some great stuff, including a Kelmscott Chaucer.

>14 PBB: Ooops! I'm not sure where I got that info, to be honest. Mea culpa! He retired from publishing in 2019 according to a brief Wikipedia article I just checked. I'll make the correction in my OP.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/32163/printing-and-process-the-david-godine-coll...

Part 1 of the Godine auction May 5th

Always appreciate seeing how much disciplinary focus & cohesion (or lack of) some of these top tier collections have. He definitely had some taste, and was truly all over the place. Curious how many sub $1-2k books aren't making it in.

>17 dotman: Well this is only part 1, of how many parts I do not know. It may be more or less cohesive depending on what is seen in future parts. I think any future sales would struggle to match the high end fine press selection, with the Kelmscott Chaucer, Doves Bible, Eric Gill's Four Gospels, and two Ashendene press books, including one that is possibly unique: https://www.bonhams.com/auction/32163/lot/119/1923-workshop-copy-of-the-ashenden...

Godine has Gutenberg fragments but I do not know if those will be sold.

Joe Phillips of Commonwealth Books and Crescent City Books has some books from Godine's library. I have bought a couple myself from him, nothing more than a couple hundred dollars. Worth reaching out to him to learn more about the lower end of the collection.
https://commonwealthbooks.blackwidowpress.com/

Very cool. Thanks for the info & the alert here

Very cool. Thanks for the info & the alert here

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gretchen-hause-7b24294_it-is-no-secret-that-i-hav...

It will be three parts

>16 PBB: Not a good start, it seems. All of the incunabula sold low.

>22 Lukas1990: the only incunabula I watched
sold above my projections! Eusebius is not very desirable either pre 1500 nor post incunabula (it is a common, always available title) and that particular copy - although complete - had hasty, sort of amateur rubrication. For the post 1500 titles I thought the estimates looked high, though I've less experience than Bonhams. A quick perusal on Abe will tell you that the demand for non-English 16th c. works even from fine workshops like Plantin or Froben command a surprisingly low market prices when compared to English production or true incunabula - and I didn't sense Bonhams reflected that disparity much

>23 dotman: Fine press books did much better.

I agree about Froben books. A couple of weeks ago I won on auction the first 3 tomes of St Jerome's letters published by Froben in 1516 and edited by Erasmus himself. One of the main achievements of his. The book is bound in contemporary pigsking binding and still has clasps. The price was very low. A Suntup numbered would cost more.

>24 Lukas1990: Lucky! I've been after that 3 volume set for a while now.. I completely missed the auction it was on. It's a landmark title for his press, which says a lot given his other output.