Christopher Columbus by Kazantzakis, Nikos - 1972

Kentfield, California: The Allen Press, 1972. Limited Edition. Folio in a case. Fine. One of 140 copies, folio size, 79 pp., with original prospectus. The thirty-seventh limited edition from The Allen Press. "Christopher Columbus" is a philosophical tragedy written by Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957), and published posthumously by his widow; the text was translated to English in 1969. The Allens thought it "to be the most eloquent expression of the explorer's vision and deplorable fate" and yet, as dour as that sounds, the author's philosophy of life also shines through in this remark made by Columbus to Queen Isabella: "Let him exist, my Queen, who preserves the dreams of night by day, and struggles to put them into action! This is what Youth means; this is the meaning of Faith. Only in this way can the world grow!" The colophon includes a German woodcut of the first printed map of the world, which appeared in an Augsberg book of 1472.

___DESCRIPTION: In the style of French de luxe editions, the folded, unsewn sheets are enclosed in a golden-colored Italian paper wrapper with the title printed in vermilion to the upper wrapper, housed in a turquoise cloth fall-down-back box lined in vermilion cloth, title printed to the same paper as the wrapper in vermilion inlaid to the upper board of the box, title-page printed in orange and black, running titles printed in gray, orange and yellow highlights are printed throughout the text, decorative letters for the Acts from an Italian book of 1475, with one woodcut as referred to above; Goudy thirty type, all-rag Fabriano paper, folio size (13.5" by 9.25"), [1-10] 11-79 pp., limited edition, one of 140 copies, with the original prospectus slipped in.

___CONDITION: A fine copy, like new; utterly without wear or any markings, clean and crisp; prospectus fine, with only original folds; in a fine box, strong, sturdy, clean, without wear.

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