Numbered first printing of 500
Homer's poem in the plain prose translation readers have used since 1900, printed as a 6x9 hardcover with 24 full-page plates, a cast key, a voyage map and a synopsis of every book.
$49.95 plus $6.95 shipping. Ships in 7 to 12 business days. 30-day returns.
Troy to Ithaca, fourteen landfalls
The map is printed as a full-page plate in the book. Follow it down the page and the route draws itself, one landfall at a time, with the plate that belongs to each one.
The printed chart, with the landfalls numbered in the order the poem takes them. An 18x24 inch copy can be added to your order for $12.
01
The war is finished and the ships turn for home. Ten years of fighting, and the sea has not started with him yet.
02
They sack the town and then will not leave it. The Cicones come back at dawn and take six men from every ship.
03
The fruit makes a man forget where he was going. Odysseus carries his crew back to the benches and ties them down.
04
A cave, a giant, and a stake sharpened in the fire. The escape costs him the goodwill of the god of the sea.
05
The king of the winds ties every storm into a bag and hands it over. The crew opens it in sight of Ithaca.
06
A quiet harbor with high rock on both sides, which is the trap. Eleven ships go down under thrown stone.
07
Her cup turns the scouting party into swine. A year goes by on her island before the men ask to leave.
08
At the edge of the world he speaks with the dead. Tiresias tells him what the rest of the way home will cost.
09
Wax in every ear on board, and rope around the mast for him. He is the one man who hears the song and lives.
10
A narrow strait with a monster on one side and a whirlpool on the other. Six men are the price of passing through.
11
The cattle of the sun, which nobody is to touch. The crew eats, and the next storm leaves one man alive.
12
Seven years on her island, and the offer of a life with no death in it. He sits on the beach and looks at the water.
13
A princess finds him washed up on the beach. He tells the whole story at their table, and they give him a ship home.
14
Home after twenty years, and not one person knows him. What is left of the poem happens inside his own house.
Black and white line art in the copperplate engraving style, printed full page on cream stock, one for every book of the poem. Scroll the strip sideways.
One plate for each book of the poem, drawn in the copperplate engraving style, plus a frontispiece.
Who is who, in one place. Names, households and gods, so you never lose the thread of a scene.
A short paragraph for each book. Read it first, or use it to find your place again.
A full-page plate of the route from Troy to Ithaca, with the landfalls marked in order.
Why this translation, and how to read the poem without a seminar to lean on.
Each copy of the first printing carries its own number on the edition page. 500 in all.
The text is Samuel Butler's translation, the plain prose translation readers have used since 1900. Butler wrote the poem out as English sentences rather than verse, which is why it still reads at the pace of a story. It is in the public domain, so nothing stands between the reader and the text.
Nothing has been modernized away. The reading aids sit around the poem, not inside it.
| Format | 6x9 inch hardcover, casewrap |
|---|---|
| Length | About 380 pages |
| Paper | Cream book stock |
| Illustrations | 24 full-page black and white plates, plus a frontispiece |
| Translation | Samuel Butler, 1900, public domain |
| Printing | Printed in the USA |
| Shipping | Ships in 7 to 12 business days |
First printing, numbered
Secure checkout by Stripe. Order up to five copies.
Also from Wine-Dark Press: The Lost Books of the Bible, Restored Apocrypha Edition.
Samuel Butler's 1900 prose translation, complete and unabridged. It is public domain, and it reads as plain English prose rather than verse.
24 full-page black and white illustrations, one for each book of the poem, plus a frontispiece. They are printed on the same cream stock as the text.
Each copy is printed to order in the United States and ships in 7 to 12 business days. You get tracking by email when it leaves the printer.
Send it back within 30 days of delivery for a full refund of the purchase price. Write to hello@winedarkpress.com and we will tell you where to send it.
No. This is Homer's text in the Butler translation, published by Wine-Dark Press. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any film, studio or production.