Acquisitions 2026

I have ordered 17 books for $460, all VG+ or better.

Monsieur Beaucaire
Kenilworth
Diary of a Country Priest
Confessions of St. Augustine
Journal of the Plague Year
Master of Ballantrae
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
William Tell
Sonnets of Petrarch
Les Pensees
History of Tom Jones (1952)
The Overcoat / The Government Inspector
Flaubert Three Tales
The Satyricon
Chekhov Short Stories
Tender is the Night
Three Men in a Boat

I am not sure why most of these books are so cheap, but I am glad for it! I was looking at other "fine press" recently and you're lucky to get a single book for $500 from many of them.

>1 rogerthat2: At an average price of under $28 per copy, I'd say you did pretty darned good! And you've got some good reading ahead of you.

>1 rogerthat2:

I paid a little more than half of what you paid for the 17 for The Diary of A Country Priest alone. Well done!

>3 Django6924: Wow, the market for it must have gone down in recent years.

Are you guys still buying or do you have a complete collection?

I'm just pushing 50 LECs so I have a long ways to go (but have close to 100 HP, 200 FS, and I'm satisfied with them unless the LEC is a good deal).

I went out on a limb and blind ordered Sherlock Holmes first set of 3 for $110. Supposedly 2 of them have glassine on them still. Knowing this is the rarest of the 3 sets and quite desirable, I didn't want to wait until Monday for pictures.

>5 rogerthat2: I see someone now bought the entire series that was up on Abe (around $450) for the longest time. Not a bad deal. :-)

Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson. From Oak Knoll. $70, with Monthly Letter, really minor discoloration on the spine, probably VG+ or NF and really happy with it overall.

I ordered A Streetcar Named Desire from thriftbooks for $8. Usually they send HP books instead of LEC, but a HP of this doesn't seem to exist so I'm curious if it's actually the LEC and what condition it will be in.

Side note, I'm surprised this book is so expensive, guess it's very popular.

>8 rogerthat2:
Hmmm, that price sets off alarm bells. If it's in decent shape, it's a steal.

>9 Django6924: So far I've received the correct book only 3 times out of 75+ from them but I still feel hopeful every time. At least they make it easy to get a refund when the wrong book arrives.

I ordered a G- copy w/o slipcase of Marcus Aurelius for $25. This book is clearly quite rare and similar condition copies have gone for $100 on eBay before, so I'll be content with in unless I happen to find a deal on a better one.

I ordered a VG copy of Explorations of Captain James Cook for $35. I already have the HP and have little interest in the contents so I really don't need this, but the binding looks so cool that I just had to order it.

I ordered a VG+ copy of Death In Venice for $23.

I finally ordered the 1933 Don Quixote, despite the apparent white marks (dye fading? mildew?) on the spines, for $105. I don't normally buy such expensive books, and I remember NOT liking Don Quixote when I read it in my youth, but I was sure to have buyer's remorse if I didn't pull the trigger. Aside from the whiteness and quite worn slipcase, the books looked to be in excellent condition.

There was another good deal I was excited about, that unfortunately got away. I tried messaging the seller for pictures to confirm it, but was getting no response. Finally I ordered it, which also got no response. The seller's phone number was out of service. I searched for their obituary and sure enough they died a month ago.

For $155 I just ordered:

- The Golden Ass, VG. The leather is not pure white, rather beige, but not ugly brown or cracking like most copies out there.
- The Anabasis of Xenophon, VG+.
- Tales of Mystery & Imagination. G- with worn spine and lacking slipcase. Given that it is a rarer one which a pretty bland binding to begin with that seems easily prone to wear, I'll be content with it.

Unfortunately from 3 different sellers so I'm looking at another $25 in shipping forwarding fees, but they were 3 I quite wanted at decent prices.

>9 Django6924: Actually got the correct book! Slipcase split and spine a bit faded by I won't complain.
https://imgur.com/a/94JYO18

>14 rogerthat2: wow, this is an unbelievable score! I got mine for $60 and it was much cheaper than average at the time - without slipcase or ML.

I have also tried my luck with thriftbooks several times with zero success - always received, random incorrect editions.

My copy of LEC "Song of Roland" finally arrived, unfortunately it got banged up like hell by FedEx, and sat in a (damp, i assume) warehouse for two weeks longer than expected.
I'll see if the sadly noticeable hint of mushroom smell goes away after a few more weeks in a box with charcoal, can't do anything about the bumped corners.
-___-

>16 JanPospisilCZ: Well, that s**ks. I hate it when books get damaged en route. It hasn't happened to me very often, for which I am grateful, but it has and it always saddens me.

It's so wildly relative to...well, anything. I also recently got a late 19th century copy of William Morris' "The Story of the Ere Dwellers" - over 130 years old, in near fine condition - the book looks like it was kept in a safe. Just because the people at Pegana Press/Magic Bookshop packed it well and the shipping company didn't treat it like absolute animals.
I think even if the smell goes away I'll just sell it locally and see if I can get another Roland sometime in the future. (it does look gorgeous!)

>10 rogerthat2: so far I've received the correct book only 3 times out of 75+ from them
>14 rogerthat2: Actually got the correct book!

So 4 out of 75+ now? :)
Congrats, that's an unreal deal!

Usually, I buy LECs in spurts. I'd buy some LECs, then I'd refocus my attention to "high priority" items - often in-print editions about to sell out - and the LEC wish list gets pushed to the back burner, with justification that I can always find LECs later. But then I would either see LECs in a bookshop or would get an alert for a LEC from the top of my wish list going for a steal, acquire a LEC, get reminded what an incredible value LECs are - even the majority of the more expensive titles - and then go on a little LEC-buying rampage.

This happened again. After a few months of LEC abstinence, I walked into Second Story Books in Washington, DC earlier this week and walked out with Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and Maggie, A Girl of the Streets. And now, all of a sudden, I have the following on the way to me:
A Voice of the City - bargained down to $70
The Leopard for $60
The Magician of Lublin for $60
From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon set for $30
The Frogs sans slipcase free of charge

Not too bad, I think.

>20 elladan0891:
Excellent prices on A Voice and The Leopard, congratulations!

>20 elladan0891:

Amazing prices on all. Hard to believe The Frogs was thrown into the cart for free. Your shopping experience is comparable to going to a restaurant, ordering vichyssoise, chateaubriand, with trianon for dessert, paying "blue plate special" prices, and having the restaurateur throw in Veuve Clicquot "on the house"! Of all the illustrations done for the LEC by John Austen, his wood engravings for Aristophanes are the only ones I really like.

I saw those go on eBay. Not the best condition, no slipcase for leopard either iirc.

I purchased the Oregon Trail for $100+shipping, supposed to be Near Fine with chemise and slipcase. I might regret this but it seemed like a decent deal on a rare LEC. I only see 2 other copies for sale, both at double the price and with condition issues.

Managed to get the Anabasis from an eBay seller I bought a few other non-LEC books from. Decent price, lovely condition. Sometimes it goes right. :)

I ordered The Education of Henry Adams (VG+) for $25.

>26 rogerthat2: The wood engravings are fantastic.

I finally managed to buy my favourite book that I wanted to acquire for years but never did either because it was too expensive or because none were available: The 2 volume The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton for £300 / $400. Slightly damaged slipcase, no monthly letter. I was so intrigued after attending the play/musical of Alexander Hamilton in London that it's been on my list since.

>28 ironjaw:

Faisel, that is one of my favorite LECs of all! Everything about it is perfectly in keeping with the subject matter and is an outstanding example of the artistry of the best book designer of the 20th century, Bruce Rogers. I had a beautiful copy in very Fine condition with Monthly Letter that I eventually sold, but I will retain to the last the HP version, which though only in a single volume, is a worthy replica of the original.

>29 Django6924: I have just started working my way through the Federalist Papers (9 down, 76 to go) which I was reading in the LOA versions, but after reading your praise of the HP, I just grabbed a reading copy of the HP off eBay for $8. If nothing else, it’ll fill the gaps in the LOA volumes I’m using (Hamilton’s Writings and the 2 volume Debate on the Constitution), but I think I’ll be nice to toggle back and forth. Coincidentally, the most recent Thornwillow Dispatch contained Federalists 10, 51, and 78, so I’ll even get some letterpress ones in, if not a Bruce Rogers design for those.

>29 Django6924:

Robert, absolutely thrilled - I've never felt so excited. Two of my favourites are Bruce Rogers and Edward A. Wilson. Hopefully the books arrive all good in one piece. I used to be very particular on slipcase conditions before but now I see them as protectors of the books. I've calmed down a lot with the older I've become. So many times I've received battered slipcases with fine or very fine books inside. However it's almost two years or four? since my last LEC purchase I think. I don't have much space left, all bookcases are full and I've unsubscribed so many publisher emails. I've come to my senses that I need to start reading and enjoying my books while I work 18 hours a day! I put off so much that over the last six or so years haven't read much because of my busy schedule. Now I multitask. Read wherever and whenever I can.

I hope you are doing well, my friend.

I don't understand how this was a good buy:
https://hibid.com/lot/290413665/hard-cover-books-incl-limited-editions-club

I'm surprised to see it is a book reseller who bought these.

They are trying to resell them on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/157826479511
https://www.ebay.com/itm/168271861354
https://www.ebay.com/itm/157811843578
https://www.ebay.com/itm/168302119241

They paid paid $130+18%=$153.40+shipping. They listed the above for $300, but will realistically only get half of what they are asking and it will be a hard sell (eg. half of Casanova set). The 3 other books are worth maybe $50.

Just some ephemera but couple of nice pickups: The Inside Story for The Wind in the Willows, which seems to be even rarer than normal Monthly Letters from the same time period, and Hamlet is Reborn! Broadside for "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. With Engravings by Eric. Gill"

Thanks to astropi for mentioning the hamlet one a long time ago otherwise I don't think I would even know it existed. Now time to wait 10 years for a fine copy with Monthly Letter to show up.

I purchased a copy of The Battle of Waterloo at a library book sale in New Jersey today for two dollars, but it's odd. It has a gold strip with "(The) Howard Press Limited Edition, Winter 1986" stuck over the line where LEC and the year 1977 should be. A gold plate covers copyright information on the other side. The last page has another plate covering the LEC name and publication information but the Drew Middleton signature and copy number show. An LEC-style newsletter describes the Howard Press and the other three pages are about the book. The slipcase is blank. I assume Howard Press purchased unsold and returned books from LEC under the condition that LEC's name is hidden. Has anyone seen this before?

>34 OutsideFood: Interesting. I'd contact Carol Grossman (Four Rivers Books). I DM'd you with her email address.

Howard Press is/was a printing services company and these were obviously intended as gifts to clients, but I've not seen any like this before.

>34 OutsideFood: >35 Glacierman: My copy of Winesburg, Ohio is like this too.

>36 imkdir: Curiouser and curiouser.

What a weird rabbit hole we've uncovered...

I bought Great Expectations for $55 (typical condition, no slipcase). Seemed like a worthy edition to have, particularly since it has the alternate ending.

I also bought the hopefully fine condition Persuasion for $28 last week.

Regarding the LEC/Howard Press books--I contacted Carol Grossman and asked her about what happened with these books. She wrote back:

"Michael—I don’t know. The book dates from a dark time for the LEC—membership was way down and a lot of books were sitting in a warehouse. Gordon Carroll was dying. Waterloo was one of the last books done under the Carrolls. Winesburg was the first done under the new owners including Sid Shiff, about a year and a half later (even though much of the design and production work had already been done or was planned). There was a still a large inventory of earlier books when Sid took over. After all this time, there’s probably little to be learned about something like this.

"Could these two books have been mock-ups for a venture that didn’t survive? The letter does remind me of the Illinois Gear & Machine Company books that came out in the 1960’s and 70’s—Heritage Press books were rebound in a standard leather binding (in different colors) and used as gifts for the Company. If so, the gold paper was probably temporary to show placement of the new names and information. It would have been fairly straightforward to reprint and replace the title and colophon pages.

"I don’t recall anyone named Howard involved with the LEC, and also don’t recall a press with that name involved with the LEC. Also, there were sales of old titles, to members, for example, but all the books I know about had the full LEC publishing information.

"I wish I could give you more information on this! Please let me know if you find out anything else about these!"

I then asked if I could share her email with this group and she said "sure! perhaps someone will come forward with more information about the project!". Anyone have any ideas?

Steal of a deal!
https://imgur.com/a/rSAM7gQ
$8 USD + $8 shipping to Canada.

Thrift books is now about 3/70 for sending the right book.
I'm surprised it's in near fine condition since they only graded it Good.
Pages uncut so this book was never read!

>41 rogerthat2:
It may just be the deal of the decade! Congratulations on your score. Be gentle with it if it has not already had its spine broken. My copy suffers from this, but still I love it.

>41 rogerthat2: Congrats! That is quite a good percentage haha. They usually agree to refund so it is not so painful to take risks and order those Kelmscott Chaucers.

>41 rogerthat2: I dithered and watched it go out of stock. Congratulations!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/377151804551

Thanks! Yea they always refund, though sometimes it requires some argument, so it's not risky, just time consuming. I was on the fence about ordering this one too, expecting the wrong book in poor condition. My hard work finally paid off! Just luck!

>45 rogerthat2:

The pre-WWII Mardersteig books are such gems; outstanding buy!

A copy of The Four Gospels arrived to Sweden with nontrivial foxing. I’m going to try returning it, a first attempt ever through eBay I think. If I have to pay shipping it might come close to the purchase price, sadly. Though that means the price was good at least, 75 USD. And what a lovely book!

>47 GusLogan:
What a shame! If the foxing was neither described nor adequately displayed in photographs, it has been my experience the seller is responsible for return shipping.

Eric Gill's 1933 Hamlet. It took me a long time to find a copy. It is rather expensive compared to other early LECs, and the pig skin binding often is not well preserved. The size of the book is 5.25 by 8 inches. It is on the smaller side but nevertheless is extremely readable. You can comfortably hold the book in bed, on the train, or laying at the beach. This copy appears unread as pages are still uncut. I am looking forward to reading it. If you are on a budget but want a taste of Gill's craft, I recommend the 1936 LEC A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, which is every bit as good as Hamlet and can be had for under $100.

>49 BuzzBuzzard: Thanks for sharing these pictures.

Congratulations on finding a nice copy of the Hamlet illustrated by Eric Gill!

I recently watched the Kenneth Branagh production of Hamlet. Act III, Scene I includes a woman who has no lines, and I wondered if this was Branagh interpreting Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘drabbing’ as an allusion to said woman. Seeing that Gill included a woman in his illustration, I now wonder whether Branagh had a copy of the Gill Hamlet?

It’s a wonderfully illustrated book and I only wish there were more copies available. Gill’s cover illustration is near-perfect for the play. Did Heritage Press ever publish the Gill Hamlet?

>50 Whaiwhakaiho: I do not think that the Heritage Press reissued Gill’s Hamlet.

>50 Whaiwhakaiho:
Heritage Press never reproduced Gill's Hamlet nor any of the individual plays in the 37-volume Shakespeare set. The only individual Shakespeare plays in the HP canon are the Sauvage-illustrated Romeo and Juliet (a gem, uncommon to find and expensive) and Henry V--a misguided attempt to illustrate the play with still frames from Olivier's film version.

All the plays were issued by the HP in a 3-volume set with the Tragedies illustrated by Agnes Miller Parker, the Histories by John Farleigh, and the Comedies by Edward Ardizzone. The B&W wood engravings by Parker and Farleigh are excellent, as one would expect from these two British masters of the technique. Ardizzone's color illustrations are not inspired, but I should qualify that by saying he is my least favorite of the illustrators Macy used frequently, so others may esteem them more.

The illustrations are sparse in the three volumes, usually just a frontis and 2 additional per play. The text used is Peter Alexander's Tudor Edition Shakespeare, which eschews the period spelling of the LEC First Folio text in favor of modern spelling and punctuation. Each volume is large and quite heavy, so better suited for library table reading.

>46 Django6924: I agree, it's one of the nicest LECs I own and towers above their 1940s and later books (which are also very nice).

I finally got Swiss Family Robinson from thriftbooks! I ordered 17 copies of this book over the last year and finally received a LEC. The first 16 were small children's editions.

>54 rogerthat2:
Frankly, this strikes me as extremely wasteful. The fact that you are reimbursed for your purchases does not make them free for the planet. Thriftbooks obviously has a poorly designed business model, but the choice to use it in this way is yours. You don’t even need to believe in climate change to see the waste in packaging, fuel etc.

>55 GusLogan: I am definitely surprised that they can get so many wrong book complaints and not bother fixing their system (ISBNs mapped to the wrong books). There are a few books that seem to be especially plagued with this issue, such as Swiss Family Robinson. I had a theory that if I kept trying I'd eventually get the right book. Living in Canada, shipping costs/availability are a big concern, usually have to arrange shipping forwarding with any small sellers, so the mega sellers are always nice to order from, despite their other flaws and challenges.

Bad for climate change? Probably, but books in general and all of humanity are bad from that metric.

Worthwhile for the effort involved to have saved $40 over the cost of another copy? Not particularly, but I'm happy it finally worked. They have 2 more copies listed for sale right now if anyone wants to try your luck.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses (LEC).

This is one of those books that I've always wanted but at the same time hesitated to order for a long time. Finally, a decent copy at a bargain price appeared out of nowhere haha.

>57 Lukas1990: Congrats! I assume you ordered the $105 copy on eBay?

I just ordered the $38+$8 The Possessed that popped up on eBay. Been pretty quiet otherwise lately.

>58 rogerthat2: Thanks! I ordered via Biblio.

https://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=1769703885&aid=vialibri&utm_sourc...

>59 Lukas1990: Same copy as the one I had seen on eBay. :-)

>58 rogerthat2: I followed up on my order of The Possessed with a 1949 The Brothers Karamazov set for $45. This is a craigslist purchase from a seller that seems rather sketchy so we'll see if it actually arrives.

Did anyone here snag either of these? I am regretting sitting out lot 10
https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/arthur-rackham-1867-1939-toad-and-the...
https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/arthur-rackham-1867-1939-preparatory-...

I picked up the 1980 edition of Robert Graves's poetry in New York this weekend. Some sun fading on the spine (always regrettable), but otherwise in excellent condition. I'm not sure how hands-on Sidney's Shiff's involvement in the company was at this point, but the design is very nice. Gorgeous paper and typographical presentation, with striking watercolors by Paul Hogarth. I've heard that Graves channels an idiosyncratic mythology in his poems; still, I'm looking forward to reading the volume.

I just ordered Oregon Trail $40, supposedly in fine condition. For some reason this is one of the rarer LECs.

I've have recently picked up nearly-free-but-not-in-great-condition copies of Cicero, Graves Poems, and Spoon River Anthology.

I see someone nabbed the Alice in Wonderland set (not signed) for ~$500 yesterday, probably a good deal but outside of my budget.

>63 rogerthat333: Great price for that title. The "saddle leather" used for the binding is prone to sunning/fading. You also won't find a limitation on the colophon for this title. Issued in the midst of WWII, both product materials and subscribers were in short supply. I really like this edition, especially when you can find a copy with a near fine/fine binding.

>63 rogerthat333:, >64 Sport1963:

The binding is a problem on this edition. The front and rear covers of mine are in Fine, smooth condition; the spine is faded, rough, and crumbling at the top and bottom. It's very possible that on my copy it was stored in a sunlit room with the spine out (it came without a slipcase), but I suspect the issues with the binding are a reason for the scarcity, as well as the desirability of Maynard Dixon's signature, as he has quite a large fanbase in the American Southwest. The ML is uncharacteristically forthright about the "saddle leather" itself, saying since it began life on the back of a sheep, it wouldn't last very long if used on a saddle (or a book, apparently!). The ML is also rather unique in that it rather testily treats Mason Wade, who prepared the text used, and who seems to have provided the impetus for the LEC publishing it. One gathers it was not the most cordial of collaborations.

Incidentally >64 Sport1963:, my copy does have a limitation number--121--along with Dixon's very lovely signature. Perhaps yours was an office copy?

Yea I already have a near fine copy of it and it is numbered. The chemise & slipcase are very flimsy, many of them probably got destroyed and the books suffered without them. I'm curious what this copy will look like. Probably won't actually be fine.

>65 Django6924: 121 would be the book number, not the limitation number which was typically 1500. During the later WW2 years the limitation number was left off the colophon of the following 14th Series titles: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Old Creole Days, Moriae Encomium; Or, The Praise of Folly, Jonathan Wild the Great, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Tales of Hoffmann, Moby Dick, The Oregon Trail, Eugene Onegin, The Rose and the Ring, and Leaves of Grass.

Other titles in the 15th Series like The Red Badge of Courage and Madmoiselle de Maupin had limitations of 1000 stated in the colophon, while a slew of titles had limitations of 1100 or 1200 stated in the colophon. Its an interesting bit of trivia that Carol Grossman covers in Chapter 7 of "The History of the Limited Editions Club".

>67 Sport1963:
Quite right, sorry for the incorrect terminology.

It looks like I won the LEC pope Iliad / Odyssey for $80+shipping (typical faded/dirty spines). I'm surprised nobody else bid on them as 4 recent individual copies in similar or worse condition have auctioned around $50 each, so I figured these might fetch $100 or more. I'm also surprised to see so many copies auctioned on eBay lately as there are not many of these listed for sale.

Somewhat related, I also just purchased Demeter and Persephone: Homeric Hymn Number Two, a children's book. I have high hopes for this as I own one of the others in the series and have enjoyed reading it to my kids, but they aren't easy to find.

As for the Pope Iliad / Odyssey, I can't see myself reading these unless I do a serious refresh/study of Greek mythology first because Pope, while I enjoy his style, is not easy to read if you aren't familiar with all the names he is referencing!

>69 rogerthat333: I considered bidding on this set before I went to sleep (the auction ended at 4 AM local time) but I also thought it will sell for much more than the starting bid and decided to pass. Seems like a good candidate for rebinding or just a nice reading copy. Congratulations!

>70 Lukas1990: Thanks! You can have the next set!

For me, Pope's Odyssey is a mixed bag, as you might expect since he didn't do all the translating himself but had others do about half. The Iliad was all his work and it is fine, but as a critic said "a very pretty poem, but must you must not call it Homer." I have always admired it in the same way I admire FitzGerald's Rubaiyat, great poetry in its own right which gives the gist, but not the experience of the original.

>72 Django6924: I have seen you say that before, but it would seem incomplete to me to only to have 1 of the volumes, plus I'll hopefully form my own opinion on it some day.

Interestingly, The Odyssey seems the harder of the two to come by. I only see 2 Odyssey versus 5 Iliad individually listed for sale (plus 6 sets).

What standard translation do you like? I happen to have Fables and Green, but haven't read more than a couple pages of either. Looking at comparisons of the ~20 options is frankly dizzying and in the end they all seem not very different. At least Pope offers something different, albeit more of a building upon Homer than Homer himself. :-)

>73 rogerthat333:
Definitely make your own decision! My favorite has always been the one Herbert Bates did, which I read in high school. I had previously read the Odyssey in a Mentor paperback in the prose translation by W.H.D. Rouse, and while the story captivated me, I thought the style was rather flat and slangy (I had been reading a lot of Shakespeare and Tennyson's Idylls of the King before reading Rouse). Bates's verse translation, in iambic tetrameter with all the Homeric epithets ("rosy-fingered dawn," "Wine-dark sea," etc.) was just what I wanted in Homer--it had the speed also which all the critics say is a primary characteristic of Homer's verse, and the elevated tone. I can't really recommend it to anyone else because it is considerably abridged.

Aside from Bates, my favorite is Richmond Lattimore's for its completeness and faithfulness to the original. Fagles is next followed by Fitzgerald. I have only read excerpts of Emily Wilson's much-hyped translation and I can't say I'm interested in reading any more: the language is pure episodic TV with no hint of that "elevated tone" all critics have said are characteristics of Homer's style. Here is how she translates the scene when Odysseus taunts the blinded Polyphemus:

When I had gone as far as shouts can carry,
I jeered back,

'Hey, you Cylops! Idiot!
The crew trapped in your cave did not belong
to some poor weakling. Well, you had it coming!
You had no shame at eating your own guests!
So Zeus and other gods have paid you back.'

My taunting made him angrier. He ripped
a rock out of the hill and hurled it at us.
It landed right in front of our dark prow,
and almost crushed the tip of the steering oar.
The stone sank in the water; waves surged up.
The backflow all at once propelled the ship
landwards; the swollen water pushed us with it.

Compare with Lattimore:

But when I was as far from the land as a voice shouting
carries, I called out aloud to the Cyclops, taunting him:
"Cyclops, in the end it was no weak man's companions
you were to eat by violence and force in your hollow
cave, and your evil deeds were to catch up with you, and be
too strong for you, hard one, who dared to eat your own guests
in your own house, so Zeus and the rest of the gods have punished you."
So I spoke, and still more the heart in him was angered.
He broke away the peak of the great mountain and let it
Fly, and threw it in front of the dark-prowed ship by only
a little, it just failed to graze the steering oar's edge
but the sea washed up in the splash as the stone went under, the tidal
wave it made swept us suddenly back from the open
sea to the mainland again, and forced us on shore.

and with Bates:

And now, when yet
A shout might reach the land, I called
To Cyclops, taunting him:
'O Cyclops,
You were not, then, to find that man
A helpless weakling--him whose men
You ate there in your hollow cave
With might and cruel strength. For surely
These evil deeds of yours are doomed
To overtake you. O mad fool
Who felt no shame, but must devour
Your guests in your own home! May Zeus
And all the other gods send vengeance
Upon you for such deeds!'
So spoke I,
And he in heart grew angrier yet
And tearing off a hill's great summit,
He hurled it. And it fell beyond
Our dark-bowed ship: the sea surged high
As that great rock crashed down. A wave
Came rolling back, a mighty billow
Out of the deep, and swept our ship
In toward the land.

Essentially, the action is the same in all three, but Lattimore has the elevated style and his lines match the Greek text virtually line for line, and though he doesn't use the original's dactylic hexameter, his verse maintains the six-beat rhythm--with a certain degree of verbosity. Bates only uses a four-beat line to give the effect of speed characteristic of lightly-accented Homeric Greek. Wilson has speed, but for my (admittedly superannuated) ears, lines such as "'Hey, you Cylops! Idiot!" and "Well, you had it coming!" are too jarringly modern schoolyard idiom. No other translation I've read (even Rouse) seems so...well, to put it as tactfully as possible, informal. Perhaps with English teachers today using "No Fear Shakespeare (Shakespeare for Dummies), this is the only way to get students today to read the classics.

But aside from the style, Wilson's translation has other issues of interpretation: both Bates and Lattimore have Polyphemus tear off the top of a great mountain and throw it, a wave from which would definitely wash the ship back to shore. Wilson's "a rock out of the hill" is a little vague and doesn't quite conjure up both the extreme anger and incredible strength of the giant Cyclops. A critic also pointed out the first line of the poem where Wilson translates the original Greek "polytropos"--"many turning"--describing Odysseus, as "Tell me about a complicated man." Lattimore: "Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways..." and Bates: "Tell me the tale, Muse, of that man of many changes..." and Fagles: "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns...." "Complicated" is not exactly wrong, but the connotations of it are often used to describe someone with mental and/or emotional issues, often causing lack of action; I can see calling Hamlet "complicated," but not Odysseus. A description of the often-disguised hero should carry the intended connotations of "resourcefulness, "cunning, "readiness," and "adaptability" with some of the characteristics of a con man, a character not usually admired today, but in older cultures viewed more positively: Jacob in the Bible and the indigenous American trickster, Raven.

In case you haven't guessed, Odyssey is my favorite work of world literature, and since I can't read Homeric Greek without the aid of a crib, have relied on reading almost a dozen different translations over the years to try to get the best sense of what the original must be like; of course none are ideal, and I frequently go between various translations to see which seems to both be faithful to the original and work as fine English poetry as well. Because the original is in verse, I tend to fix on verse translations despite the many felicities of G.H. Palmer's and T.E. Lawrence's prose translations. Based on Ezra Pound's retelling of the voyage to the Land of the Dead in his Cantos, I wish he would have taken on the whole poem, creating something akin to FitzGerald's Rubáiyát, providing the gist of the original in a comparable English poetic style.

>74 Django6924: Curious about your point of view on T. E. Lawrence's translation.

Addendum:

This passage from Bates's translation is a perfect example of what I like so much about his translation; it is Odysseus's speech after he has strung the bow and shot an arrow through the axe handles:

"This stranger,
Telemachus, who as your guest
Sits in your hall, has not, you see,
Brought shame on you. I have not missed
The mark nor made a mighty labor
Of stringing the great bow. My strength
Is even as of old, nor fails me now
As these in insult deemed.
At last
The time is come, the destined hour
To bid these wooers sup with us,
Though yet it is full day! And we
Have sport for them besides-the dance
And twanging of the lyre, to crown
This coming feast!"

Compare to Fagles's translation:

'My son,
Odysseus looked to Telemachus and said, 'your guest,
sitting here in your house, has not disgraced you.
No missing the mark, look, and no long labour spent
to string the bow. My strength's not broken yet,
not quite so frail as the mocking suitors thought.
But the hour has come to serve our masters right-
supper in broad daylight--then to other revels,
song and dancing, all that crowns a feast'

and Fitzgerald's:

Then quietly
Odysseus said: "Telémakhos, the stranger
you welcomed in your hall has not disgraced you.
I did not miss, neither did I take all day
stringing the bow. My hand and eye are sound,
not so contemptible as the young men say.
The hour has come to cook their lordships' mutton
supper by daylight. Other amusements later,
with song and harping that adorn a feast.'

I think Bates has found just the right words that foreshadow the coming slaughter of the wooers, "At last the time is come, the destined hour" and "we will have sport with them besides--the dance and the twanging of the lyre." I especially like the phrase "twanging of the lyre" as the verb recalls how after stringing the bow, "...and tried the bowstring, and at his touch it rang out loud, clear as a swallow's cry. And then fell a deadly dread on all the wooers."

>75 Sport1963:
I like Lawrence's version very much! If you prefer a prose translation, it's a tossup for me between Lawrence and G.H. Palmer. I have both the later LEC edition with Lawrence's and Palmer's with N.C. Wyeth's illustrations. My preference between the two is purely because Wyeth's illustrations are far and away my favorite of all Odyssey illustrations. Here are the three passages quoted above in Lawrence's rendering:


O DIVINE POESY
GODDESS-DAUGHTER OF ZEUS
SUSTAIN FOR ME
THIS SONG OF THE VARIOUS-MINDED MAN
WHO AFTER HE HAD PLUNDERED
THE INNERMOST CITADEL OF HALLOWED TROY
WAS MADE TO STRAY GRIEVOUSLY
ABOUT THE COASTS OF MEN
THE SPORT OF THEIR CUSTOMS GOOD OR BAD
WHILE HIS HEART
ACHED IN AN AGONY TO REDEEM HIMSELF
AND BRING HIS COMPANY SAFE HOME
VAIN HOPE--FOR THEM
FOR HIS FELLOWS HE STROVE IN VAIN
THEIR OWN WITLESSNESS CAST THEM AWAY
THE FOOLS
TO DESTROY FOR MEAT
THE OXEN OF THE MOST EXALTED SUN
WHEREFORE THE SUN-GOD BLOTTED OUT
THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN
MAKE THE TALE LIVE FOR US
IN ALL ITS MANY BEARINGS
O MUSE

...but when we were just as far from
the land as a man’s shout might carry, then I hailed the Cy-
clops in malignant derision. ‘So, Cyclops, you were un-
lucky and did not quite have the strength to eat all the fol-
lowers of this puny man within your cave? Instead the luck
returned your wickedness upon yourself in fit punishment
for the impiety that had dared eat the guests in your house.
Zeus has repaid you, the other Gods agreeing.’
My cry stung his heart more terribly yet. He tore the
crest from a great mountain and flung it at the black-prowed
ship, but overcast by a hair’s breadth. The rock nearly
scraped the end of the tiller. The sea heaped up above its
plunging, and the back-thrust, like a tidal wave from the
deep, washed us landward again very swiftly, almost to shore.

...Then he cried to Telemachus, “Telemachus, the guest sit-
ting in your hall does you no disgrace. My aim went true and
my drawing the bow was no long struggle. See, my strength
stands unimpaired to disprove the suitors’ slandering. In this
very hour, while daylight lasts, is the Achaeans’ supper to be
contrived: and after it we must make them a different play,
with the dancing and music that garnish any feast.”

I think the major criticism of Lawrence's translation is that his prose is somewhat awkward. Still, I think it is with Palmer's the best prose translation I have read.

Wow, that Emily Wilson translation is a disgrace. Highly acclaimed because of her gender, I assume.

>78 rogerthat333: A matter of taste, I'd say -- at least it's an entirely different style, and not crazy, on its face, for an adventure story. I mean, we probably didn't need yet another translation that hews to the same formal tone and principles of fidelity as the several excellent verse and prose translations already available....
By the way, Wilson's translation of the Iliad is quite good, in my opinion -- not nearly so colloquial as her Odyssey.

" we probably didn't need yet another translation that hews to the same formal tone and principles of fidelity as the several excellent verse and prose translations already available"

Perhaps, but I feel first-time readers of The Odyssey would be short-changed if they stopped at Wilson's translation.

Addendum: Just a little further explanation, because I don't want to bash Emily Wilson's translation having only read excerpts. As i mentioned, I first read the poem in Rouse's prose translation and found it flat. Then, when I read Bates's a few years later, it was an entirely different experience. Even though abridged, the translator's rapid style and especially his poet's sensitivity to words, and how some words don't have a single meaning but depending on how they are used, explode, to add richer subtexts. Lattimore, Fitzgerald and Fagles all exhibit this sensitivity--take for example the missile Polyphemus hurls at Odysseus: Bates: "a hill's great summit"; Lattimore: "the peak of the great mountain"; Fagles: "the peak of a towering crag"; Lawrence: " the crest from a great mountain"; Wilson: "a rock out of the hill." All the other translators use words which not only denote detaching a missile to throw, but immense strength and blind fury.

As a first read, to persons new to Homeric poetry, Wilson's translation may provide an easy entrance; I just hope readers don't stop there thinking they "know" the Odyssey. After all, easy entrances can be dangerous to enlightenment: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Dumbing down of our society. People should read the real thing. If they are not yet ready, they should work to elevate themselves, rather than dumb down the text.

>81 rogerthat333: Greek ain't so hard.

The problem with Homer is that it is all Greek to me!