Aelfric's Colloquy
East Burke, VT: Plowboy Press, 2010. Wrappers. Fine binding. Item #9792
Oblong octavo. [2], 58, [4] pp. Limited edition, one of 100 numbered copies. Printed letterpress by Andrew Miller-Brown at the Janus Press in black, red, and brown in Palatino and Gill Sans. The text and glosses are in Latin, Old English, and English. Bound as issued, sewn longstitch into Gray Flax Canal from Papeterie Saint Armand and housed in a shellacked wooden slipcase. A fine copy.
Aelfric's Colloquy was written in England around the year 1000 to teach novice monks conversational Latin. Unusual among instructive texts, it takes the form of a dialogue between tradespeople and laborers about whose work is the most important, each highlighting their trade's necessity and often bemoaning its difficulties. Amidst this dialogue there is discussion outlining the way in which there is coordination between trades to form a functioning social structure—teaching Latin and civics simultaneously. In this regard, the colloquy offers important insight into Anglo-Saxon society. The new translation by W.R. Johnson is arranged between the original Latin and an early Old English gloss presenting the text line by line in three languages. Miller-Brown has composed the book so that the dialog takes place across each page spread, question and answer from left to right, a quality that makes each spread varied and visually engaging.
It was announced in March 2012 that Aelfric's Colloquy was one of two runners-up for the thirteenth Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design. One judge of the competition, Bryce Milligan of Wings Press, said, "Obviously a work in homage to a beloved text, Aelfric's Colloquy reflects the age and culture of Aelfric in its external design, the texture and color of the cover recalling rough woolen monk’s robes and the handmade box feeling very much like the consciously un-ornate wooden book covers of a monastic library's most used texts. Both lend gravity to what some today might consider a slight text, but which really has a long and important legacy. The typography and layout echo the unusually spacious original manuscript, and its tri-lingual text is an expansion of the interlinear glosses of the original. Finally, the occasional and judicious use of color adds just the right amount of almost inexplicable levity, similar to that which one finds peeking through Aelfric's text."
Price: $400.00