The arion press of san francisco, a small finepress publisher, issued pale fire in a limited edition twovolume boxed set in 1994. Nabokov, vladimir arion press arion press, nabokovs pale fire. Arion press narrative of hannah duston arion press. I was also an adviser on the 1994 arion press edition of pale fire, which is an exquisite thing, with a moire cloth box and cover that manage to capture the interplay of sun and moon in the passage of timon of athens from which nabokov and shade pick the phrase pale fire. If you need additional information for outofprint titles, please contact us. Now considered one of the most accomplished printers of today, hoyem gained total control of the press, choosing literary texts, commissioning new work from writers and artists he admires, and designing the books, including their bindings and typography. Another wholly different, baffling, brilliant book, full of word plays and tricky meanings.
James had not yet published a novel, this story appeared in the atlantic monthly in the spring of 1873. Following grabhorns death in 1973, hoyem reformed the company as the arion press. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading pale fire vintage international. Over 400 lots of fine literature, significant modern press books, artist. Pale fire by vladimir nabokov goodreads share book. Together these elements form a narrative in which both authors are central characters. This project marks his only collaboration with andrew hoyem, proprietor of the press. Arion press known as one of americas finest letterhead presses, arion is one of the few fine arts, limitededition presses that has continued to go from strength to strength, primarily due to its solid foundations, dedication to excellence and strong connections. One of the last of its kind, arion press has only a handful of members on its staff, all fellow craftsmen dedicated to this age old process. The novel is presented as a poem titled pale fire with commentary by a friend of the poets. Andrew hoyems san franciscobased arion press can be thought of as a sort of laboratory for.
The book features woodcut illustrations from barry moser, including a portrait of melville at the beginning. In the 1950s the mcclures were friends of jess and his partner robert duncan, visiting them frequently after their return from mallorca and black mountain college. Pale fire free pdf, chm, epub, txt free download ebook. Hardback 1967 ted nelson demonstration for hes 1994 the arion press artists book 1994 jimmy guterman storyspace 19971998. Bound in iridescent purple cloth, with inset gold cloth disks for gilt titling. The irish nobel laureates last book of poetry was stone from delphi, a classicallythemed collection. Arion press produces limited edition letterpress printed artist books. We have a wide variety of illustrated books with unique bindings, handmade by artists, which focus on the book as art as well as unique book sculptures. Arion press first edition identification and publisher. Laidin, an accordion fold announcement of the book by arion press explicating the genesis of the tale. Mans life as commentary to abstruse unfinished poem, writes the old poet, john shade, in a long, personal, oldmans poem about life and death. An illustrated catalogue of drawings and related writings, 19611974, prepared by the artist and poet, published on the occasion of an exhibition, january 18 through march 16, 1975, the fine arts museums of san francisco, california palace of the legion of honor. The arion press of san francisco, a small fine press publisher, issued pale fire in a limited edition twovolume boxed set in 1994.
Pale fire together with on nabokovs pale fire by andrew hoyem. What a pleasure to actually hold and peruse the famous arion press moby dick. Top 50 rare and valuable books the following books are considered by many collectors to be the most rare and valuable. But kinbote is less interested in the poem than he is in discussing the. Pba galleries literature and todd collection of arion press. Immigrants, fiction, kings and rulers, assassination, american poetry. His crazy friend kinbote kidnaps the manuscript and comments profusely on it. Aug 31, 2000 buy pale fire penguin modern classics by nabokov, vladimir from amazons fiction books store. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. May 03, 2017 the arion press edition of this classic work is printed on handmade paper by simon barcham green. The novel has been hailed as one of the most striking early examples of postmodernism and has become a famous test case for theories about reading because of the apparent impossibility of deciding between several radically different interpretations. This chapter discusses pale fire, offering a ludicirenic interpretation of the book. Gingko presss edition of pale fire is handsdown the most beautiful book of the year.
Gallery open to the public, tours on most thursday afternoons at 3pm. Four phenomenal editions from arion press books tell you. Vladimir nabokovs pale fire and the problem of interface digital humanities congress 8th september 2012 simon rowberry simon. An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, at the center of pale fire is a 999line poem written by the literary genius john shade just before his death. The poem pale fire was freed from the shacklesfree at last to be a poem on its own, extracted from the novel and published in its first separate edition in 1994, by arion press in san francisco. Apr 11, 2008 once i was done looking at those, i had the pleasure of looking at some of their outofprint books. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.
Pale fire vintage international kindle edition by nabokov, vladimir. Pale fire by vladimir nabokov with a separate volume for the poem pale fire and a frontispiece portrait of the author by andrew hoyem. Arion press, 1998 and i saw, illustration in the book the apocalypsethe revelation of saint john the divinethe last book of the new testament from the king james version of the bible, 1611. Nicely made, with cards and all, edition of pale fire.
Pale fire vintage international kindle edition by nabokov. This separate printing of the poem pale fire, ostensibly written by the fictional character john shade in the novel of the same title, provides a second copy for ease of reference with the commentary on the poem provided by the fictional character charles kinbote, as recommended in his foreword, and gives the lineation for the eighty index cards of the manuscript as described in the foreword and commentary. Ron rosenbaum at slate is wrong about nabokovs pale fire. First published in 1884, flatland was reprinted in 1980 by arion press, and was one of its most financially successful releases. My one nit with the design is that the titling on the spine of the book is very fine and hard to read. For the most part, they have been misses for me and are not books i wish to collect. Arion press published two of his collections, picture poems and what if.
Pale fire is arguably vladimir nabokovs funniest novel written in the form of an extended commentary by a madman charles kinbote on a poem written by poet john shade. Known as one of americas finest letterhead presses, arion is one of the few fine arts, limitededition presses that has continued to go from strength to strength, primarily due to its solid foundations, dedication to excellence and strong connections. Pale fire together with on nabokovs pale fire by andrew. One of 200 numbered copies, designed and produced by andrew hoyem, printed on mouldmade paper. With an introduction by richard rorty the urbane authority that vladimir nabokov brought to every word he ever wrote, and the ironic amusement he cultivated in response to being uprooted and politically exiled twice in his life, never found fuller expression than in pale fire published in 1962 after the critical and popular success of lolita had made him an international literary figure. An exhibited artist, hoyem occasionally includes his own drawings in arion books, including vladimir nabokovs pale fire, francis thistletons how i came to be governor of the island of cacona, edwin abbott abbotts flatland, and shakespeares venus and adonis. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. Apr 04, 2020 pale fire 1962 is a novel by vladimir nabokov. The todd collection includes his personal copies of some of the finest creations of the arion press, such as the poems of w. The upcoming gingko press edition november 2010 of the poem pale fire by vladimir nabokov should be cataloged as the first separate, independently published edition to distinguish it from the arion press first separate edition that accompanied the novel as a twovolume set.
With a separate volume for the poem pale fire and a frontispiece portrait of the author. Arion press for friends of the bancroft library, berkeley, 1986. Nabokovs darkly witty, richly inventive masterpiece is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of oneupmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum. Oct 01, 2011 another wholly different, baffling, brilliant book, full of word plays and tricky meanings. Pale fire is regarded by many as vladimir nabokovs masterpiece. Nabokov bibliography all about vladimir nabokov in print. Part of a major new series of the works of vladimir nabokov, author of lolita and pale fire, in penguin classics. I also looked at thirtythree sonnets of guido cavalcanti, pale fire, the physiology of taste, tartuffe, and venus and adonis. Vladimir nabokov, published 1994, arion press, 226 copies printed. Preliminary annotation to charles kinbotes commentary on pale fire. Each sold at auction for thousands, and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Limited to 200 numbered copies for sale, this being copy number 126. The result is something that one would not think possible.
Arion produced only 275 copies of the book, each signed by press founder andrew hoyem and by ray bradbury, who wrote the forward of the edition. The boobus and the bunnyduck is a fullscale, fullcolor facsimile of the original unique artist book made by jess collins in 1957 poet michael mcclure wrote the story for his daughter jane, nicknamed boobus. The book was printed in 1979 so the paper was sourced before barcham green shut down production at the famous hayle mill. This is a complete list of all arion press publications. Shade happily married and charles kinbote homosexual are teachers at wordsmith college. Andrew hoyem, founder of arion press, owes much of his knowledge, experience, and resulting success in the printing industry to robert grabhorn, the surviving half of the grabhorn press. Charitable giving sustains this temple of the book, one of the worlds last complete letterpress printing workshops and the resource behind arion press s literary classics illustrated by top artists.
Vladimir nabokovs pale fire and the problem of interface. The novel includes the 999 line poem pale fire which forms the target of the kinbotes outofcontrol commentary. An exhibited artist, hoyem occasionally includes his own drawings in arion books, including vladimir nabokovs pale fire, francis thistleton s how i came to be governor of the island of cacona, edwin abbott abbotts flatland, and shakespeares venus and adonis. Topics about this book topics that mention this book. For those of us in love with the weight, feel, and smell of real books, san franciscos arion press is an antidote for our digital times. Johannes gutenberg, printed 1456, 180 copies known to exist. Pale fire by vladimir nabokov in chm, epub, txt download e book.
The book initially appears to be an unfinished poem, pale fire, by a dead writer named john shade, together with a foreword, detailed commentary and index by a friend of his, charles kinbote. Jun 02, 2011 when the arion press publishes a work or poetry collection of undisputed merit and they combine it with one of their trademark out of this world book designs that stretches the envelope of fine press bookmaking, it is something that i cannot resist and these books are nobrainers unless the cost is truly prohibitive. Our name, pale fire, was taken from nabokovs booklength poem published in 1962. One of the more lavish productions from the arion press. Nabokov borrowed the title from shakespeare the moons an arrant thief, and her pale fire she snatches from the sun fashioning with it a bold literary experiment steeped in centuries of tradition. Lithographic print by john baldessari to accompany the arion press edition of the life and opinions of tristram shandy arion press john baldessari arion press print by john baldessari. The upcoming gingko press edition november 2010 of the poem pale fire by vladimir nabokov should be cataloged as the first separate, independently published edition to distinguish it from the arion press first separate edition that accompanied the novel as a. Pale fire has spawned a wide variety of interpretations and a large body of written criticism.
He also undertook english translations of works by lermontov and pushkin and wrote several books of criticism. In fact, his comments take up the bigger part of the book. Pale fire is the product of three years passion, originally conceived by. The odes of horace, book ii a new verse translation by michael taylor, with his commentary and introduction. The book took over a year to print, commencing in march of 1978 and was completed in may of 1979. The novel has been hailed as one of the most striking early examples of postmodernism and has become a famous test case for theories about reading because of the apparent impossibility of. The novel is presented as a 999line poem titled pale fire, written by the fictional poet john shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by shades neighbor and academic colleague, charles kinbote. In 1994 arion press issued a multivolume, limited edition of pale fire. With the poem printed separately in a companion volume.
Once i was done looking at those, i had the pleasure of looking at some of their outofprint books. The novel was originally published in 1962 and combines a 999line poem titled pale fire into its narrative. Arion press publisher, andrew hoyem, lays it out in the books colophon. The book as art illustrated books unique book bindings. Helen vendlers collaboration with arion press harvard.
Limited to 200 numbered copies for sale arion press. Furthermore, hoyem wrote an essay, published by arion press in. Together these elements form a narrative in which both fictional authors are central characters. When the arion press publishes a work or poetry collection of undisputed merit and they combine it with one of their trademark out of this world book designs that stretches the envelope of fine press bookmaking, it is something that i cannot resist and.
Arion press published two of his collections, picture. One of these includes the interesting fact that as early as 1969, ibm had obtained permission from nabokovs publisher, putnam, to use pale fire for a demo of an early version of a hypertextlike system by brown universitys theodor nelson. Franklin books offer the book as art books on our website and in our oldwick gallery in oldwick, new jersey. The book arts press thought for valentines day 1987. Press ephemera collection special collections and rare books. One of the last of its kind, arion press has only a. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. What kinbote does with shades poem, after shades death. The sixth book issued by arion press, mobydick went into production more than ten years after robert grabhorn and andrew hoyem began planning it. Discover the top 10 most expensive sales on abebooks for. Pale fire together with on nabokovs pale fire by andrew hoyem, a keepsake for subscribers. An account of its inception, purpose, contributors, contents, publication, revision and influence on.