Description
The limited edition of The Vigil of Venus, the English translation of The Pervigilium Veneris by Allen Tate, published in 1943.
Octavo, [28pp]. Black cloth, title stamped in red on the spine. Printed on all-rag paper. Includes the scarce glassine dust jacket, chipping along margins.
From a limited edition of 400 copies, this being number 183. An additional 30 lettered copies, A to DD, were signed by Allen Tate.
The Vigil of Venus (Pervigilium Veneris) was first published in 1938 by Yale University Press as part of the Yale Series of Younger Poets translations and later reissued in limited and trade editions. The original Latin poem, dated to the late Roman Empire, celebrates the festival vigil of Venus through themes of spring, fertility, desire, and the renewal of nature. Tate’s translation is noted for attempting to preserve both the musical cadence and classical restraint of the original text while rendering it into modern English poetry.
