(Wyeth, N. C.) illustrator. The Odyssey of Homer. Translated by George Herbert Palmer; with illustrations by N. C. Wyeth. Cambridge, [Mass.]: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, 1929. LIMITED EDITION.
4to - 10-5/8" x 7-3/4". xxviii, 314 pp. Illustrated with fifteen tipped-in color plates by N. C. Wyeth, each accompanied by a printed tissue guard. Illustrated endpapers. Text block pages are uncut and entirely unopened. Original publisher's white pigskin-backed green cloth-covered boards, upper board featuring a decorative motif stamped in gilt, spine with a green leather label titled in gilt. Retaining the original publisher's clear plastic dust jacket, the original two-part paper over cardboard presentation box with a large decorative paste-label affixed to the upper lid, and the extra suite of fifteen color plates housed in the original publisher's envelope as issued.
The physical condition of the volume is FINE. The binding is structurally stable, with the white pigskin backstrip remaining bright, supple, and free of the browning or handling soil common to this material. Internally, the text block is clean and without blemish, remaining entirely unopened and crisp. The extra suite of plates inside its original envelope is in FINE condition. The original clear plastic dust jacket is in VERY GOOD - condition, exhibiting routine wrinkling and a clean split along the rear flap fold. The original presentation box is in NEAR FINE condition, showing two split corners to the lid and minor handling wear to the extremities.
Fine Press Translation and Wyeth's Epic Illustrative Iconography
This production pairs George Herbert Palmer’s prose translation of Homer's epic with the mature illustrative work of Newell Convers Wyeth. Commissioned by Houghton Mifflin for their Riverside Press imprint, this deluxe edition represents a significant entry in twentieth-century American book illustration. The fifteen tipped-in color plates demonstrate Wyeth’s command of light, scale, and figurative composition, capturing key sequences of Odysseus’s maritime journey following the Trojan War. Included in the series is the notable composition "The Mourning Penelope," which depicts the isolated queen within the palace of Ithaca.
The technical presentation of this specific copy is distinguished by its uncut and entirely unopened signatures, indicating that the sheets remain in their original folded, unread state. This exemplar is further defined by its status as an official "Publisher's Copy." The printed limitation statement indicates that while five hundred copies of the edition were designated for commercial sale out of a total run of five hundred and fifty, this copy is one of the fifty unnumbered sheets reserved exclusively for internal presentation by the publisher. It bears the authentic ink signatures of both the translator, George H. Palmer, and the illustrator, N. C. Wyeth, on the justification leaf.
Bibliographic Completeness and Ephemeral Enclosures
While copies of the standard trade and regular limited editions survive in varying states, the preservation of the original ephemeral enclosures issued with this deluxe format remains exceptionally rare. The transparent plastic dust jacket was highly susceptible to temperature-induced brittleness and tearing, while the heavy two-part cardboard presentation box was routinely broken at the joints or discarded. Furthermore, the accompanying extra suite of fifteen color plates, distributed loose inside a dedicated publisher's envelope, was almost universally separated from the parent text block over the ensuing decades.
The structural survival of all three elements—the jacket, the functional box, and the uncompromised envelope suite alongside an unopened "Publisher's Copy"—constitutes an exceptional bibliographic occurrence.
THIS IS A BIBLIOGRAPHICALLY COMPLETE EXEMPLAR OF THE 1929 DELUXE FINE PRESS EDITION IN UNOPENED STATE, SPECIFICALLY RETAINING THE ORIGINAL PRESENTATION BOX AND EXTRA SUITE OF PLATES, REPRESENTING A PREMIER ACQUISITION FOR DISCRIMINATING COLLECTIONS OF AMERICAN GOLDEN AGE ILLUSTRATION.
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